Endings and Beginnings
by Ranowa Hikura
Summary: Begins right after the second to last chapter of The Last Guardian and continues on to the final chapter and beyond. Spoilers for The Last Guardian! SPOILERS! No romance in here, but Artemis/Holly romance in the epilogue.
1. Chapter 1

Set directly after the second to last chapter of The Last Guardian. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. Begins right after Artemis's death and originally intended to be a onshot, but Artemis kidnapped my use and held it for ransom. I just couldn't stop writing- I'm at 30,000 words and it hasn't even been a week. Updates won't be as regular as I would like, but I had to post this. First Artemis Fowl fic, and, as always, enjoy!

Holly couldn't move. It was like she had forgotten how to use her legs, even how to breathe- she couldn't do anything but stare at the sight of Butler and the teen in his arms. She couldn't hear; it was like her ears were full of cotton and the world had ceased to exist except for the sight of Butler cradling Artemis. The bodyguard shook his young charge roughly, his mouth forming words. Holly couldn't hear, but she could tell he was shouting at Artemis. Butler roughly laid the boy on the ground and began chest compressions, furiously trying to start Artemis's heart for him. He breathed air into the teen's lungs, and Holly couldn't tear her eyes away form the sight. She knew that all his actions were in vain, but she didn't have the energy to stop him.

Instead, she remained on her hands and knees, her senses slowly returning to her, watching as Butler ceased his attempts to bring Artemis back to life. He leaned over the fallen heir, staring in disbelief. "No. No. No. Artemis, no!"

"He knew," Holly whispered, her eyes only for Artemis. "He knew before he went in there what would happen. He knew he would die! God damn it, Artemis!" Holly let out a strangled cry and pounded the ground with her fist. Her voice was low and choked with tears and shaking, and the tight feeling in her chest made it impossible to speak further. She crawled over to him, breathing hard and staring down at Artemis. She had seem him unconscious before, seen him covered in bruises and coughing and bleeding, but this was different. This was so much worse.

He looked almost peaceful. He was no longer frowning in concentration or focused on some project or another or working on ways to outsmart Foaly. Not even when he was asleep did he appear to completely free and content. She reached up, stroking his cheek with a trembling hand, then let out another yell and grabbed Artemis by his shoulders, shaking him roughly. "How could you do this? How could you just give up and go in there to die?" His mismatched eyes stared blankly up at her, the light of life absent in a horribly dead gaze, blue and gold staring through her to the sky. She slapped him as hard as she could, and he didn't even react, his head flopping to the side without any resistance. Holly almost couldn't help it; she was furious, at herself and him, and needed to hit something, and Artemis was available.

"God damn you, Artemis!" she yelled again, falling back on her elbows and throwing her head back to stare at the overcast sky. The sun was just beginning to rise. If only they had managed to delay Opal by a few more minutes, then they could have taken her down themselves and Artemis would be alive.

Butler remained frozen where he was, staring at the motionless body of his young charge. Finally, he tore his eyes away to look frantically to Holly. "What's his plan?" he asked, his voice desperate. "Holly, what's his plan? He always has one. He never-"

"There is no plan, Butler! There is none! He's _dead!_" Holly's scream was hoarse and filled with pain and she hit the ground again, beginning to shake. She turned back to Artemis again who lay still where he had collapsed. Sapphire and gold stared blankly up at the sky, and his dead, staring gaze was one of the worst things she had ever seen in her entire life. Eyes that were usually so observant and aware, now reduced colored orbs of nothing. She crawled to him, tenderly closing his right eyelid so she could only his golden iris was visible. "Oh, god. Artemis, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She then closed his fairy eye as well, because seeing his dead gaze staring blankly up at the sky was horrible, especially when it was her fairy eye that was gazing up into nothing. That was disturbing on multiple levels.

She just wanted to wake up. She wanted to wake up in the Haven and pick up Artemis from Dr. Argon's office and try to frighten him with fours, as she had ever since he'd promised he was cured of Atlantis Complex. She wanted to wake up in a city where technology existed and Opal Koboi was still in prison and the Berserker Gate was still waiting for its key. Because, if this was a nightmare, it was far too long and far too detailed and horrifying and she just needed it to end.

The sun rose over the horizon, casting light on the closed Berserker Gate and the three figures resting below its tower. They were a mismatched trio, with one huge, hulking figure trembling and sitting beside a small fairy covered with dirt and blood, whose tiny fists were clenched and mismatched eyes were haunted and teary, the limp body of a human teen beside her, his suit torn and caked with mud and blood of deep scarlet, his eyes closed, his mouth slightly open, though no breath slipped past his lips. It almost looked like the scene from a movie, a movie where the protagonist had died and left behind a pointless story with no hero and characters who now had nothing to keep them going.

Neither Butler nor Holly had the willpower to move. They just sat beside Artemis, watching over his body and sitting in silence. When the bodies on the hill began to move, though, they had no choice.

Animals that had collapsed once the fairy spirits were pulled towards the afterlife stirred to life, bounding lightly off the hill. Mummies and skeletons and dead bodies that had been disturbed remained motionless; they were dead before possession and they were still dead after. The bodies of two humans began to awaken, though, one a four year old boy, the other a sixteen year old girl. Butler and Holly didn't turn or even notice what was happening until they heard footsteps.

Behind them was Juliet, holding a confused Beckett, whose arms were wrapped around her neck. She clearly had no idea what was going on and remembered nothing of being possessed. She stared down at the three at the bottom of the hill in shock, running towards them to stand behind Butler and looking around at them in uncertainty and fear. "Holly? What are you doing here? Butler, are you okay? What's wrong with Artemis?"

Butler didn't seem to have the power to speak. He remained still, staring at the dead youth's face, forcing Holly to speak. She turned her head to stare up at Juliet, fully aware that her eyes were filled with tears. "Juliet, get Beckett back to the house. Everything'll be explained later. We're fine. Butler and I are fine."

"What about Artemis?"

Holly shook her head, turning back around to stare at her friend. "He's gone."

* * *

The sun climbed higher in the sky, shining down on the two distraught friends and the dead body. They remained still, unmoving statues in place to watch over their friend as the sun rose on Artemis's death. It had been utterly silent for the longest time- no animals' calls to usher on the new day, no explosions from the nearby city that was still on fire- nothing. It was almost as if the time was hesitant to move on without Artemis. The world itself seemed to have stopped to grieve its loss.

A sharp ringing pierced the air, making them jump. The two looked around wildly, turning to Artemis, the source of the ringing. Instantly, thoughts of this being the beginning of a plan filled their minds and they scrambled forward to the body, trying to find whatever was causing the noise.

Butler pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, which was ringing. He frowned, wondering who in the world still had cell phone coverage and would be calling Artemis before answering the call. "Hello?"

"Artemis! Thank god!"

Butler recognized the voice as Angeline Fowl, and horror seized him. Of course. Artemis had given her a cell phone that he'd modified himself so she could call him while he was underground with Atlantis Complex... he couldn't believe he'd forgotten about her.

He'd faced down a squad of goblins, a troll, an LEP attack squadron, but nothing made him feel worse than the relief in the dead boy's mother's voice. He shook his head and closed his eyes so he didn't have to see the body. "No. It's Butler."

"Butler? Why are you on Arty's phone? Is he okay? I've been trying to get in contact with him ever since everything went to hell, but his father and I were in a building that almost collapsed and, once we got out, we were trying to find a way back to Ireland. We paid a man on the shore to give us his boat and we're on our way right now; we'll be there soon. Is everyone all right?"

Butler shook his head weakly. No. No, everyone wasn't all right. He opened his mouth to say as such, but the words stuck in his throat. Saying that Artemis was dead would make it true.

"The twins are fine. I'm fine. Juliet's fine."

There was a short silence before Angeline asked, a touch of terror in her voice, "What about Artemis?"

He shook his head again, unable to tear his eyes off Artemis's dead face. He couldn't say this. Not over the phone. "How far out are you from Ireland?"

"I don't know; about an hour. Butler, _is Artemis okay?"_

"You need to get back here as fast as possible." Then he hung up, dropping the phone to the ground and lowering his head, fighting back the urge to scream. Holly was watching him, so he eventually forced himself to speak once again. "His parents are coming. They'll be in Ireland in an hour; probably be back at Fowl Estate in an hour and a half."

Holly nodded. She turned back to stare at Artemis, then shuddered and slowly stood on shaking limbs, allowing warm tears to begin their tracks down her face. "I have to go. No one underground knows about what's happened here. I don't… I don't even know if there's anyone left."

"Call me when you can," Butler whispered, even though the idea of his fairy friends underground seemed so distant when compared to the reality right in front of him. "They're my friends, too, Holly."

"I'll come back as soon as I can. I promise." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him as far as she could reach, allowing him to rest one huge hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

When she finally pulled back, her face was stoic and blank. The face of an LEP captain, not of a grieving friend. "I'lll be in touch, big man," she said, then turned, walking across the field to find the nearest above ground base. Then she paused and glanced over her shoulder at Butler, who was still kneeling by his charge's side, a hulking and depressed figure that nearly made her give up her battle against losing it completely. "Tell his mother how he died. She deserves to know what he died for."

Butler nodded weakly, reaching down to take Artemis's hand. "Go to your people, Captain. You have a job to do."

Holly tried to smile before she started off once more. She didn't know how she was going to get underground, but she had to. She had to carry out Artemis's last wish and give his message to Foaly, if the centaur was even still alive. She had to see her home, or what was left of it. She had to get away from her friend's dead body and try to wipe the sight from her mind, even if it was forever burned into her memories.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all for reviewing! I apologize for the wait. After I posted this, I realized I had absolutely botched the timeline of the clone's development in later chapters and had to rework them. I never should have decided to make a guess first, then work out the actual equations later. I'm sure my 8th grade math teacher would chastise me for this.

Butler watched Holly walk away from him. From behind, she looked like nothing more than a small human child. A small human child who he'd found asleep in Artemis's study, with his young charge absent. He'd woken her up, and she looked around in confusion before pushing him aside and sprinting for the door, yelling Artemis's name. Butler had been utterly confused but had followed her anyway. Holly had ran outside, where he had seen the Berserker Gate clothed in an ethereal green light, a powerful gale beginning to blow around the hill. Holly had dashed straight for it, Butler on her tail, Holly shouting Artemis's name.

That night seemed like both a million years ago and one second ago. It was too soon for him to wonder if he could have changed things, too soon for him to miss Artemis, too soon for him to do anything but sit beside the body and watch over him.

Artemis seemed small, almost fragile, the way he was now. How he was collapsed on the ground, his limbs splayed out awkwardly, the rays of the sun alighting on his pale skin. Death didn't seem to have had much of an affect on his complexion; his skin was still cold and pale, a faint bruise under his eye that he had sustained sometime during the night. He'd seen Artemis injured many more times than he would've liked, and it seemed ironic that, after everything he'd lived through, he would just fall over dead from a spell.

Butler couldn't bring himself to move Artemis's body. That would make it real. Instead, he remained where he was, sitting at the base of the hill and watching over Artemis until he heard a frantic yell. Butler wearily raised his head to see two distant figures approaching at a run; the sight of them forced him to sit up straight and calm himself. It was his duty to tell Artemis's parents that he had failed. Personal grief should be pushed aside to be dealt with later; he still had a job to do.

The distraught parents finally rushed up to him, covered in dust, dirt, scrapes, and bruises. They skidded to a stop and collapsed on either side of Artemis, shaking him and speaking to him and trying to wake him up. Butler merely watched their fruitless attempts, his shoulders slumped with guilt.

Finally, they were still as the reality of the situation hit them. Artemis's father shook his head slowly before slowly turning to look at Butler, denial and confusion in his eyes. "He's cold. There's no pulse. What happened? What is this?"

Butler could do nothing but shrug, unable to tear his eyes off the body. "He's dead."

Artemis's father remained frozen where he was, staring at Butler in horror before letting his head fall, staring down at his son. Angeline slowly raised her eyes to stare at him.

"What is this?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm sorry."

Angeline shook her head, looking back down at her dead son before turning to Butler. "No. No. No. You're lying. He's not… he can't be…"

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head again, warding off the truth even as tears began to well up in her eyes. "What about Holly? Magic? Can't the fairies- can't they do something?"

He shook his head, noting that Artemis's father hadn't even reacted to the mention of fairies. "No. Holly was here when it happened. He didn't have a chance."

There would be questions later. His parents would surely want to know how their son had died, and Butler would not only have to explain Artemis's death to his mother, but he would have to dishonor his young charge by lying to his father, who still didn't know of the existence of fairies. In the wake of this tragedy, the importance of the fairies hiding from humans seemed to dwindle into nothing, but Butler was well-accustomed to shutting away his emotions and attempting to deal rationally with the situation at hand.

However, as of now, there were no questions. Simply grieving parents in the light of the rising sun. The same rays that would have brought death to Opal's plan, now shining down on the body of the boy who had died saving his race.

* * *

Holly sat against the wall of the above ground fairy base. It was no longer invisible to the naked eye and a trail of smoke was rising up from the windows. It had taken only a cursory examination for her to realize that there was nothing usable in there- she was stuck on the surface until someone remembered her and came to get her.

She had only been resting for a few minutes when a bright, dancing spot of light caught her eye. Holly watched it for a few moments, then sighed. She really didn't care what it was; she hadn't slept in over twenty four hours, she was exhausted and in pain, she was cut off from her people and grieving the death of one of her closet friends. She couldn't care less about a dancing spot of light.

That was when her fairy communicator ring buzzed.

Holly jumped, her mind racing. Artemis was the only one who could contact her through her ring. Was it him? Had he really cheated death after all?

Her face fell once she raised her hand to examine the ring- it was nothing but a text message, and not one from Artemis.

_Holly, I can see and hear you. Tell me what happened. -Foaly_

She frowned, looking around until her eyes settled on the spot of light again. It had settled on the ground next to her- now that she could get a good look at it, it appeared to be something similar to a dragonfly, but there was something off about it. "Foaly?" she asked. "Is that you?"

Her ring buzzed again a few seconds later.

_Yes, it's me! I can't call you; the network is down. Tell me what happened at the Berserker Gate. I tried to get closer to see, but the magic was too strong for my bug. It flew away and I only just got back control of it and ran into you by accident. Tell me what happened!_

This was too soon. She needed to prepare herself more for this moment, of telling people what had happened. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stared down at the bug, struggling not to cry. "Foaly, no, I can't. Not like this; it needs to be face to face. Can't you get me a shuttle or something?"

_No. None are in working order; at least, none here at the Haven. Holly, tell me what happened! Is Opal alive? Did she open the second lock?_

She shook her head. "No. Opal's dead. Artemis's plan worked. The second lock is closed permanently." Her voice cracked when she said his name but she forced herself to continue looking down at Foaly, resolutely keeping her voice steady.

There was a long pause after that, Foaly clearly struggling to convey his excitement in nothing but a text message. Finally, her ring buzzed again.

_BY! THE! GODS! HOLLY! YOU DID IT! _

She shook her head. "No. It wasn't me. It was all Artemis." Her voice nearly broke when she said his name again and she lowered her head, turning away from the bug so Foaly wouldn't see her tears. Her ring buzzed a few seconds later.

_You helped him, Holly! Why the long face? Everyone's alive! You did it!_

She resisted the urge to glare or yell at him at the anger and guilt his words caused. Foaly didn't know the truth. "Foaly, no. Artemis was the one who tricked Opal with the clone. He was inside the second lock's spell when it closed."

_Yeah, and you helped him! Don't try and put this all off on Artemis. You're practically a hero, Holly!_

"You don't understand, Foaly! The second lock, it… it… it… Artemis was _inside_ the spell!"

She could practically see Foaly shrug and roll his eyes as he texted her back. _So? If the stories are true, the spell would only affect fairies. All he'd have to do is just walk out of the spell's reach and he'd be fine. _

Holly turned back to stare down at the bug, allowing her tears to spill over as she simply covered her fairy eye with her hand, so only her blue human eye was visible. Tears trickled out of it and, for several seconds, nothing happened. Finally, Foaly sent her another message.

_Gods. His fairy eye. _

She nodded.

_You're not telling me what I think you are, Holly? Please tell me you're not saying that he's dead._

Holly nodded again. "No back up plan. No anything. He's gone, Foaly. Just smiled at me and then he was gone."

Foaly didn't message her again for several more minutes, probably struggling to digest the news. Artemis and Foaly had become friends over the years, even if their relationship had begun through rivalry to prove which one was the smartest. They had worked together, if somewhat grudgingly, to save the Haven and had bonded over the common enemy of Opal Koboi. Artemis, perhaps, was friends with more creatures hidden underground than he was with humans. She wasn't going to be the only fairy hit hard by his death.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there in silence when her ring buzzed again with three simple words.

_I'm so sorry._

Holly nodded at the bug. "So am I."

_I'll make getting you down from there a top priority. _

"No, don't. I'm sure the city is a disaster and needs more help than I do. Just get a shuttle up here when you can. I have enough magic left to shield if I need to."

_Holly, all my technicians have been trying to piece together a shuttle to get an LEP attack squadron to the surface to take care of Opal. Now that she's dead, she is no longer a priority. Yes, the city is a wreck, but the explosions have stopped. As a valued member of the LEP and my friend, you are more important than whatever those technicians could be working on otherwise. You are sure she's dead, Holly? Opal's escaped from a coma and the most secure prison on the planet. Are you sure this isn't just another trick?  
_

"She's dead, Foaly. I watched Oro slit her throat and I saw black magic eat through her skull. She's dead for good this time. As is Nopal. There's no chance of her coming back."

_Did you say Oro? The old hero from the Battle of Taillte? _

Holly shrugged weakly. "The Berserkers. It's a long story, Foaly. I'm not going to tell it via text message."

_Of course. Holly, the shuttle will be headed your way in no longer than half an hour. I'm going to be in Police Plaza trying to fix this mess. Find me when you reach the Haven. I'm sorry about Artemis. _

* * *

Foaly shut the display of his camera off, leaning over on his desk and letting out a deep, shuddering breath. He could not grieve now. The Haven was in the middle of a disaster and he wasn't just any old centaur; he had a job to do.

He took a step towards the door, then stopped as his knees almost buckled. He could still see the grief in Holly's gaze, the tears sparkling in her mismatched eyes, and the guilt already on her mind. He'd just found out his friend was dead. He could permit himself at least a minute of sorrow.

After a few shaking breaths, Foaly had to swallow the lump in his throat and push the rest of his emotions back to be dealt with later. The entirety of the Haven was terrified right now, and if he could bring them the news that Opal Koboi was dead, then her blow on the underground world would be softened- though nothing would erase the dead bodies that were only piling up higher in the streets the more time that passed.

So Foaly finally walked out of his Operations Booth to find Commander Kelp walking briskly down the hallway, speaking urgently with an elf. Foaly hurried after him. "Commander!"

Kelp glanced over his shoulder, then kept walking, gesturing for Foaly to come with him. "I'm about to do an emergency broadcast. Everyone who still has service and a screen will see it- so unless what you have to say is so important it needs to be heard by the entirety of the People, then you should get back to work."

"Actually, it is that important."

Kelp spun around, his eyes narrow. He appraised for Foaly for a second, then told the other elf to get lost and continued walking, this time with Foaly. "Talk to me."

"I just got in contact with Holly, on the surface. Opal Koboi was trying to open the Berserker Gate."

Kelp's eyes widened in shock, and he turned to stare at Foaly- even the hardened LEP commander was horrified at the thought. "Oh, gods. She didn't, did she? I thought the thing was just a myth, anyways! A bedtime story we tell to our kids at night!"

"It turns out there's far more truth to that story than we all thought. I don't know how she found it, but she did. Opal opened the first lock... and tried to open the second." Foaly continued to speak, even as Kelp blanched, terror coloring his eyes along with a horrified gasp. "Don't worry. Artemis Fowl managed to close the second lock and Opal Koboi has been killed. Holly was with him; she helped him and she's fine. At the moment, she's stranded on the surface, but she'll be on her way back as soon as the shuttle is up and running."

Kelp shook his head, running a hand through his short hair and closing his eyes. "D'Arvit. The Berserker Gate? Gods, what _happened_ up there? It must be one hell of a story."

Foaly shrugged. "I'm sure it is. I don't know it. I got a message from Artemis a few hours ago and just had a short conversation with Holly. That's it. But, come on, Commander. I'm sure rumors have spread like wildfire about this entire mess. It'll do some good for people to know what actually happened."

Kelp hesitated, looking the centaur over for a few moments before groaning and nodding. "Fine. Just don't get too wrapped up explaining the technical aspects of this disaster. You can tell them everything we know so far- which, I'll admit, isn't much."

"Thank you, Commander. Do we have an estimate on how many fairies this message will reach?"

"That's your department, Foaly. An estimate? Are you kidding me? All I know is that this is the worst disaster since we moved underground and that any fairy who isn't dead is lucky to be alive!"

Foaly nodded in agreement. In the space of twelve hours, Opal Koboi had nearly killed off every last human on the planet and probably halved the population of the fairy's- not to mention bringing the entire world back to the Stone Age. This was, without contest, the most devastating catastrophe the world had ever seen.

They finally walked out of LEP headquarters, where a large crowd of fairies had gathered in anticipation for some answers. At the sign of the LEP commander, the fairies started shouting up at them question after question after question, the voices blending together so it was impossible to discern a single word. Kelp gestured for Foaly to go first and he stepped up to the old fashioned microphone, turning to face the elf with an ancient camera and yelling for silence.

The crowd finally quieted down, allowing Foaly to speak. He swallowed nervously, staring into the eyes of a thousand desperate and hurt fairies who were caught up in the worst catastrophe of their lives. "My name is Foaly. I'm a representative of the Lower Elements Police. To any fairies out there who are able to watch this, one person is responsible for what has happened here, and in the human world, as well- if there is even anyone who cares about that watching this. The fairy responsible is Opal Koboi."

There was a mummer in the crowd standing outside LEP, but they were otherwise quiet, too desperate to hear the rest of this story to create a din at the new information. Foaly continued.

"The following information has been kept secret until now, but, in present circumstances, there is no longer any reason to have it classified. About a year ago, an Opal Koboi from nine years ago came into the present through time travel. We did everything in our power to capture her, but she disappeared in a rock slide. Her body was never recovered, so she became missing and presumed dead- she was, of course, actually alive. We don't know how but, somehow, the present Opal Koboi became aware of her presence and arranged to have her killed. The younger Opal's death resulted in every single object she created or influenced exploding- you may think this is skeptical, but there is no other explanation for what has happened. Of course, this would include every item produced, invented, or paid for by Koboi labs in the past nine years, which current estimates have put at at least seventy percent of all technology underground.

"This also resulted in the older Opal Koboi escaping from Atlantis prison. She journeyed to the surface and proceeded to open the Berserker Gate."

This time, there was more than a murmur. Fairies shook their heads skeptically and muttered to each other under their breaths, rolling their eyes and saying that it was all a cover up. Foaly continued talking, regardless.

"Yes, I am aware it is commonly viewed to be nothing but a myth- I believed that myself. Nevertheless, Opal Koboi managed to open the first lock and tried to open the second. Before all you radical nutcases out there start cheering for the destruction of the Mud People, she did not succeed. LEP Captain Holly Short and humans Butler and Artemis Fowl interceded and managed to close the second lock permanently. Opal Koboi was killed in the process and Holly Short is alive and well. Unfortunately, the events of that night also resulted in… also resulted in… the death of Artemis Fowl." Foaly cleared his throat and forced himself to remain calm. Artemis Fowl was known among the majority of fairies as the monstrous Mud Boy who had kidnapped a fairy and outsmarted the LEP, then recently shown up once more at Dr. Argon's clinic after losing his mind. His actions over the previous years had been mostly part of classified operations and had been kept quiet. It wasn't likely his death wold be mourned much by the fairy population, but that didn't mean he shouldn't report it. Artemis deserved to be remembered for his sacrifice.

Commander Kelp took over then, giving instructions for everybody to remain calm and stay where they were. He went on about rationing food and how all travel to the surface was suspended until further notice and that the LEP was doing everything they could to help. Foaly quickly left, heading back into LEP headquarters. He had promised Holly he would be in Police Plaza and that was where he intended to stay- not to mention that he still had work to do. His friend was dead, but that meant nothing in the great scheme of things. He still had responsibilities to take care of.

* * *

"He was at the tower, working on something. I don't know what. The laptop exploded. Something must have ruptured his heart, because by the time I got to him, he was gone." Butler shook his head dismally, his huge hands forming fists so tight that it hurt. "I'm sorry."

Angeline Fowl narrowed her eyes while Artemis Sr buried his head in his hands. Butler found himself unable to meet Angeline's suspicious glare, so he instead focused on his feet, waiting for the painful questions he knew would come.

Artemis's father took several long, agonizingly slow seconds to himself before he raised his head, a hand still over his mouth. He asked in a muffled voice, "If he had still been at that university when everything crashed… would he have… would he still…"

Butler paused. Artemis Sr had been under the impression that Artemis had been studying at a university for the past six months, rather than underground recovering from Atlantis Complex. He didn't know how Dr. Argon's clinic had fared, but it didn't matter. Even if he had still been in the midst of his recovery, the fairies would have pulled him out to deal with the Opal situation. He would still be dead.

He lied once again- something he was still frightfully accustomed to when it came to Artemis's parents and the fairies. "No. I got in contact with the school after it happened. The entire place was destroyed- there were no survivors."

Artemis Sr kept his face hidden for several more seconds, his body wracked with tremors, then shook his head and got to his feet. "Excuse me," he muttered, hurrying from the room and leaving Butler behind with Angeline. She turned to him, her teary eyes sharp and focused.

"What really happened, Butler?"

He winced. "How did you-"

"The world almost ended last night. The manor looks like a scene from a horror movie. Artemis was supposed to be underground. Take your pick, Butler."

Sighing, he looked up at her and shook his head. Holly had told him to tell her the truth, and she deserved nothing less. "You're right," he admitted. "Fairies were involved. All the explosions were caused by the fairy who possessed you. Considering what happened underground, we're lucky. Humanity could have-"

"Butler, what happened to my son?"

Butler paused. It was clear that Angeline wasn't interested in anything but how Artemis had died... not that he blamed her. The story of last night's events was long and confusing and he honestly didn't have the willpower to explain it when his charge was dead. Like Angeline, all that mattered to him right now was Artemis.

"…Mrs. Fowl, the fairy who possessed you was here last night. Artemis figured it out and came up to the surface with Holly and me. Opal opened this ancient gate from an old battle between humans and fairies that happened here ten thousand years ago. She unlocked these ancient fairy warriors that possessed animals, the Chinese mummies, skeletons… Juliet… and the twins."

At her look of horror, Butler laid a hand on her shoulder and nodded. "I know. But don't worry. They're all fine and don't remember a thing. Myles even managed to throw off the spirit possessing him long enough for us to save him. Anyway, Holly protected us from being possessed and we escaped, then found out the rest of Opal's plan. There was a second lock. If she opened it, every human on earth would be killed."

Angeline leaned back against the couch, a hand over her mouth, her slim frame trembling. She closed her eyes for a long moment, then looked back at Butler and nodded, signaling for him to continue. Somehow, the news that, by all rights, she herself and every human should be dead seemed less important in the wake of her son's death, but it was still a horrifying reality.

"We had until dawn to stop her. We tried as hard as we could, but she had planned for everything and we just couldn't get close enough to her. I don't know everything that happened; she knocked me unconscious. When I came to, I was alone. I ran to Artemis's study and found Holly- she was unconscious, too, and there was no sign of Artemis. I woke her up and she ran to find him… I'm _so_ sorry, Mrs. Fowl. I know that you pay me to protect him, and that I failed you again. I couldn't stop him from carrying out his plan, and by the time we reached him, it was too late."

Angeline shook her head desperately, still too weak to stand. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she lowered her head, her breath coming in short, shuddering gasps. "I don't understand! What happened to him? How did he die?"

"He willingly went to Opal and gave himself up. He tricked her, though. Artemis managed to trick her and he was able to stop her from opening the second lock and closed it permanently himself. Opal was killed in the process… but the gate was enchanted to take all fairy souls within its reach into the afterlife, and it saw Artemis as a fairy because of his fairy eye. I'm so sorry, Mrs. Fowl. By the time we reached him, it was too late, and he knew it would be. Artemis knew we wouldn't be able to save him and he went anyway. He knew that he didn't even have a chance."

Angeline kept silent, forcing her sobs to be quiet and internal. She rose on shaky legs and began slowly pacing around the room, her body trembling violently, her face bleached of all color. When she finally turned to face him, it was with the most devastated expression that he had ever seen in his life. Tears trickled down her cheeks, her question coming out as a painful gasp. "He died… for… us?"

Butler could do nothing more than nod, too overcome with emotion to speak. Finally, he fell back on denial, raising his head and desperately speaking up, the tone of his voice more like begging and pleading than anything else. "Mrs. Fowl, this isn't the first time people thought he was dead. When he disappeared for three years, you all thought he was dead, but he wasn't. He could be alive now-"

"I saw his body! There was no pulse, Butler! There was _nothing!"_ She buried her face in her hands and whirled around, hiding her expression with her hair and letting out a low, nearly inaudible cry. "He died, and you dare stand there and try and give me some kind of hope? He's not coming back! He's gone!"

She sobbed harder for one awful moment before turning and running from the room, leaving Butler alone. He covered his face in his hands and hunched over, fighting the raging emotions inside of him. Guilt, guilt, guilt, sorrow, anger, guilt again. This was his fault.

Artemis had told him not to feel this way. Artemis had told him that this wasn't his fault and that he shouldn't feel guilty.

"Well, that's too bad, Artemis," he muttered under his breath. "You can tell me it's not my fault and talk until you're blue in the face; when it comes down to it, it was my job to stop things like this from happening." _I shouldn't have let this happen. I'm so sorry._

He dismally rose and left the room himself. It didn't matter what his parents thought. They hadn't seen first hand what Artemis could accomplish. Surely, there must be some back up plan. He refused to believe that this was the end of Artemis Fowl.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for reviewing! Bit of a time skip for this chapter. Skips to when Holly is in Police Plaza with Foaly. Some of the dialogue or actions are taken directly from the last chapter of the book, with a few alterations. But not much, because there wasn't much to steal from.

Holly stood outside Foaly's Operations Booth, her shoulders slumped with exhaustion, her hands shaking out of anxiety. She had promised Artemis she would get this message to Foaly; she _would_ carry out his last wish.

So she stepped inside to see Foaly working hard, his hands blurring across a keyboard, his eyes trained on a screen above him. He glanced over at her when the door opened, but the moment he saw who it was, he stopped what he was doing and wrapped his arms around her in a smothering hug. Holly hugged him back, her body numb, still in shock over what had happened just shy of five hours ago. The friends clung to each other for several long moments before she pulled back, locking eyes with him.

"I have a message for you from Artemis."

Foaly frowned. "What did he say?"

"He mentioned a chrysalis. He said to power it up."

His eyes widened, and he stared at her for a moment before locking the door and running a bug wand over her, checking for any signs that anyone was listening in. Holly couldn't help but wonder why the word had such a powerful affect on Foaly. "What's a chrysalis? And why is Artemis so interested in it?"

Foaly took her by the shoulders and placed her in a lab chair. "Why _is_ Artemis interested? Our friend is dead, Holly. Maybe we should let him go?"

Holly pushed Foaly aside and jumped to her feet with a glare. "Let him go? Artemis didn't let _me_ go in Limbo. He didn't let _Butler_ go in London. He didn't let the _entire city of Haven_ go during the goblin rebellion. Now tell me, what is a chrysalis?"

He sighed. "It's what Opal Koboi used to grow her clone. It was handed over to me, and I was supposed to destroy it, but didn't- though I have no idea how Artemis knew that."

"A clone? ...That's it?" Holly shook her head and began pacing around the room. She was on the verge of figuring out the plan, she could tell, but this couldn't be it. A _clone_ was not the extent of Artemis's master plan. "There has to be more. And we don't even have his DNA."

"Was there anything else? Did Artemis say or do anything else at all?"

Holly shook her head miserably. "No, nothing. He got a little sentimental, which is unusual for him, but understandable. He told me to kiss you." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Foaly's forehead. "Just in case, I suppose."

Foaly was suddenly upset, almost overwhelmed, but he coughed and swallowed it down for another time. "He said, 'kiss Foaly'. Those exact words?"

"No," she said, thinking back. "No, he kissed me, then said, 'give him that from me."

The centaur grinned, then cackled, dragging her across the lab. "We need to get your forehead under an electron microscope," he said, his eyes lighting up as he sat her down on an examination table. He pushed her down onto her back and dragged a cart with a microscope on it closer, using it to look down at her.

"Foaly!" she protested. "What are you doingt? Foaly!"

"In a minute, Holly. In a minute."

She just sighed. The centaur's excited voice was doing nothing to raise Holly's spirits, especially considering she was flat on her back on an exam table like some kind of experiment or specimen, a microscope examining the skin of her forehead. She didn't understand why Foaly seemed so ecstatic just because Artemis had kissed her forehead, but she couldn't help but believe that this was some plan of Artemis's. That he had some back up plan in case his fairy eye had condemned him- but she knew that Artemis was dead. She had felt the pulse point in his neck herself; there had been no heartbeat. No breath. The boy had definitely been dead, and not even Artemis Fowl could overcome death.

She had cried and screamed at him, even hit his lifeless body in a rage, furious that he had died, furious that he had stood there and smiled at her and fell over dead. How could he just die and leave them like this? How could he save all of humanity and not leave room for himself? How could he abandon them all without even a goodbye?

Another tear fell down her cheek silently, and Holly didn't even move to wipe it away. She had been in shock the entire shuttle ride back to the Haven, determined to carry out Artemis's last wishes, even if she didn't understand them. She owed him that much. She had cried for a moment on the surface and for a minute before she entered the Haven to see the destruction of her people. That was it.

Holly's miserable ruminations were interrupted by Foaly's excited cry. She jumped as his voice penetrated the near silence and the centaur reached out and squeezed her shoulder so tightly that it hurt. "Foaly, what-"

"Holly, don't move. Just don't move at all and I'll be right back!"

The centaur scampered from the room- by the sound of it, he was galloping down the hall, expending more energy than she even possessed right now. Holly resisted the urge to sit upright and heeded Foaly's instructions, wondering what could possibly make him so happy _now_, of all times. Artemis had kissed her forehead; so what? Did it matter?

Foaly was back in less than a minute, a bundle of supplies in his hands. "Stay still. Don't move an inch, even if it hurts. I have to do this now."

"Foaly, what-"

"Shh!"

So Holly remained quiet as Foaly got behind his microscope again. She lay still, too exhausted to do anything but stare up at the ceiling until she felt a tiny pinch on her forehead. A few seconds later, and Foaly was pulling her up and wrapping his arms around her. "You did it, Holly! You did it!"

Holly numbly embraced him back, still trying to thoroughly kill any lingering hopes that this was Artemis's plan coming to life. No one could conquer death, not even him.

Finally, Foaly pulled back, holding up a small Petri dish, an amazed smile on his lips. "It's DNA, Holly. You did it. You got his DNA."

"What's your point, Foaly? That won't bring Artemis back. Nothing will."

He winked, grabbing her hand and tried to pull her out of the room. "And that is where you are wrong."

When Foaly didn't elaborate, Holly, who had no patience for anything today and wasn't up for doing anything more than collapsing back on her bed and crying, yelled for him to stop. She yanked her hand out of his grasp, remaining behind and refusing to follow him to the hallway. "Foaly, he's dead. _Dead!_ I checked for his pulse myself; his heart wasn't beating, he wasn't breathing, he was gone! Some little bit of his DNA on my forehead isn't going to bring him back!"

Foaly didn't even seem fazed by her words. "Holly, Artemis wasn't a genius for nothing. By itself, this would just be DNA, but the chrysalis! The _chrysalis_, Holly!"

"No, Foaly!" she exclaimed. "You want to grow an Artemis clone? Some dumb, soulless creature that'll live out its short life on life support and die? That's even worse than him dying!

But Foaly was already shaking his head vigorously, a light in his eyes that she hadn't seen in a very long time. "No, no! Don't you get it, Holly? It's an Artemis Fowl plan in every detail- daring, illegal, unlikely to succeed, and nearly impossible to pull off, but the outcome if it works makes it more than worth it!"

The admiration in Foaly's voice stunned Holly. She could hardly bear the idea of sitting by the bedside of an Artemis clone, watching him die the way she had for Nopal. It would be horrible in any case; for someone of Artemis's intellect, it was downright insulting to even suggest. "Foaly, don't do this. Don't create an Artemis clone just so he can die."

"Don't you get it? That won't happen, not if Artemis was right!"

Holly had to grab Foaly by the shoulders and stop his amazed lecture before it began. "Foaly, I'm not in the mood for science. Just tell me what this so-called 'plan' is, because I don't have any patience for your theatrics today."

Foaly looked around suspiciously, then put a finger to his lips and gestured for her to follow. "I can't tell you in here. Too risky. Someone could overhear from outside, and, anyway, I need to get started."

"Foaly, whatever this is, I doubt it's more important than the destruction of the city. No one will care. Just tell me and get it over with."

Holly's words did nothing to dissuade the centaur; Foaly just grabbed her hand and pulled her along the hallways lit by emergency lights. "I have to get to my back up lab, anyway. Trust me, Holly. This is worth the wait. "

"You have a _back up_ lab?"

He snorted. "Of course I do. I have more than several experiments that are… more than slightly outside of the law. I couldn't very well perform them here."

Holly just shook her head, numbly allowing him to pull her through the dark building until they reached the outside. She flinched when they walked out onto the streets, both pausing when they observed the ruins of their city. Emergency sirens still echoed through the air- even twelve hours after the crash, if a fairy hadn't been evacuated in time, they were probably either dead or in need of serious immediate help. The air was heavy with smoke and distant screams of terror and pain, a fire rapidly eating away at buildings not too far from here.

Even Foaly's excitement waned in the wake of such misery and fear but, nevertheless, the centaur eventually shook it off and pulled her along the otherwise deserted street. "Holly, if the second gate is closed, Bruin Fadda created it to reward the fairies responsible by taking all fairy spirits within the spell's reach into the afterlife. He meant for this only to include the Berserkers and the fairy who had managed to unlock the Berserker Gate, but the spell was created to take any fairy within its reach. To do this, of course, their bodies must die, and Artemis had your fairy eye. The spell identified him as a fairy and killed him."

"Yeah, it was painful enough to watch it happen, Foaly, I don't need you to explain it," she muttered, swallowing back the lump in her throat his analytical explanation had brought. Because all she could remember was seeing Artemis running for them, diving towards them, his arm even reaching out of the spell and his eyes lighting up before the spell caught him. Then the resignation and the sadness as he climbed to his feet and turned around to face them as he faced death. There was no reason for her to listen Artemis's sacrifice being reduced to nothing but science and facts.

"But don't you see, Holly? Don't you understand yet? The spell killed him but his spirit is fully human! The spell didn't take human spirits into the afterlife, only fairy ones! Artemis's would have been left behind!"

Holly continued hurrying after Foaly for several seconds, then abruptly stopped as she finally understood the implications of what Foaly was saying. She gasped, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. Holly leaned back against the crumbling walls of a building, breathing hard, almost light headed. "Oh, gods. Are you saying… are you saying that Artemis… is still…_here?"_

"That's exactly what I'm saying. And, theoretically, all he needs is a body. The Berserkers needed bodies to possess; the only reason they couldn't hypothetically live a full life in their chosen bodies was because it had been so long, and they yearned for the after life. It won't be easy… in fact, it's hardly even possible, but he could hang on for long enough. Six months, a year; I'm not sure how long it will take to grow a clone of his age. But if Artemis was right, his spirit and this body should fit like a key and a lock, and he'll be able to live out the rest of his life as if this had never happened."

Holly gasped for breath, images of Artemis's dead body flying before her eyes. She remember shaking him, screaming at him, slapping him across the face and hitting him on the chest as she apologized again and again for not saving him. "Oh, gods," she whispered aloud. Had Artemis been watching her the entire time? "So, he's just… like… a ghost?"

Foaly snorted, grabbing her hand once more and leading her down the street, even if at a slightly slower pace. "In layman's terms, yes, but not in the way you're thinking. This is far from my area of expertise, but I doubt that he's floating around like a poltergeist and going 'boo!' from the shadows. I'd be surprised if he's even aware of anything going on in the physical world."

"Then how will he know to go to the clone's body? If he's not aware of anything that's actually going on, then-"

"It's all theory, Holly, but if we go to where he died with the clone, his soul should go to the body on its own. But we have to hurry. No one can hold on forever, not even Artemis."

Holly couldn't a repress a shudder as she lowered her head, unable to stop the train of thought Foaly's statement had caused. She couldn't stop herself from thinking of Artemis struggling to hold onto this world, waiting desperately for the life-saving to clone to arrive. Was he floating in the midst of nothing but the dark and cold? Could he even remember what he was waiting for, or would he just be existing, lost and confused and holding on through sheer willpower, until there was a body for the spirit?

She shivered, increasing her pace and pushing those images from her mind when she was struck by a thought. "Foaly, we have to tell his family!"

His response was immediate. "No. We can't. Holly… this is a long shot. Telling his family and having them get their hopes up would be nothing more than cruel if this doesn't work."

"But they'll think he's dead when he's not!"

Foaly paused, stopping and turning to face her. She didn't like the look in his eyes. "Holly, he _is_ dead. And if we tell them that we can bring him back to life, and then fail, they'll be even more devastated than they are right now. Just think about how much it'll affect you if this doesn't work."

Holly hadn't even considered the possibility of this plan failing. The look in Foaly's eyes told her he was imagining himself in the same situation, but Holly didn't like the unimaginable pain that waited at the end of that tunnel. She had already seen Artemis die once. She didn't think she could handle seeming him die twice.

Finally, she nodded. "All right. We'll keep this a secret. Just you and me. But how are we going to do this? We're both going to be very busy with the LEP until the Haven is up and running, and that could take months, even years! Surely, this is a project that'll take time and concentration."

"I have a few trusted assistants that will help me, but you're right. I'm going to have to work all night for weeks at a time. I'm no specialist at this; this is all going to be trial and error. In here." Foaly abruptly pulled her inside a building, shaking his head angrily when they entered a room so dark Holly couldn't make out a thing. "Lights... Lights on... _Lights!_" Groaning, Foaly led her further inside, feeling his way through the dark. "Lights are broken. There's supposed to be a retinal scanner on the door, too; seems the thing exploded with everything else. Luckily, mostly everything else in here is of my own creation or too old to be affected. Come on, we have to get to the chrysalis. If Nopal survived, it should, too, but I don't want to take any chances."

"If everything should've survived, why are the lights broken?"

"Because I replaced them last week. Worst luck in the world, I'm telling you…" he muttered under his breath, trailing off as he felt his way through the lab. Holly, who had never even been inside here before, was stuck following his lead.

After over a minute and a half of searching, Foaly found what he was looking for. "Here! Come on, down here!" There was a smashing sound, then the room flooded with light from a basement. "I knew I should've built the retinal scanners myself. Of course not, though; Opal Koboi wormed her way into every crevice of the city."

Holly followed him down into the basement, biting her lip out of nervousness. The chrysalis had to still be here and in working order, or they didn't have a chance.

She hung back, allowing Foaly to scamper forward across the clean, shiny white floor to the strange device in the middle of the room. It was a pale blue container and appeared to be plastic, large enough for a human adult of medium height to just barely fit inside. Around it, though, were dozens of computer monitors and plastic tubes and wires, and she couldn't tell what their relevance was, but Foaly seemed to be thrilled that they were still in such good shape.

"Sing my praises, Holly! You should be singing my praises right now!" Foaly told her as he actually hugged one the machines, far too excited to even try and maintain a semblance of normalcy.

Holly raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the wall and watching as Foaly walked around the room, turning on machines, practically giddy. "Why? It doesn't look like anything but a bunch of computers and half of a gigantic egg."

"Don't judge a book by its cover. Opal had a lot more than that chrysalis in the warehouse we raided. All of the equipment she used to make a clone was there, and I… _confiscated_ it myself. If this stuff didn't still work, it'd be almost worse than if the chrysalis was broken, but everything seems to be fine! Do you know how lucky we are?"

"No, but it you prolong your victory dance much longer, I'm sure it'll be too late for any clone we manage to make."

Foaly sighed, resting the Petri dish with Artemis's DNA on the chrysalis. "Fine. I'll start on it. But we can't do this alone; I need you to try and get in contact with my assistants. And tell Caballine that I'm sorry, but I won't be home tonight; I have to work. And, if anyone comes looking for the world's greatest technical genius, he's otherwise occupied- and that includes if it's LEP asking. And-"

"What am I, your secretary? You want me to fetch you a cappuccino, too? Just give me the list of the fairies you need me to contact and I'll do my best to find them. With the city like it is, though, I'm not making any promises."

He nodded in comprehension, even as he scribbled the names on a piece of paper. "You know all three of them. I'll get to work, but it's the beginning stages of this that are the most work intensive. I'll be here non stop for at least four days."

"With the city like it is?" Holly pursed her lips and watched him start to work. "Is there any other way you could do this? I _really_ don't want to give you a swelled head, but we need you right now, Foaly."

The centaur smiled proudly. "Well, thank you, Holly, I'll be sure to remember that. But unless you want an Artemis with two heads, no, there's no other way. And, for once, I'm not exaggerating."

Holly shook her head skeptically, but still accepted the list. She sighed, mentally preparing herself to step back out into the ruins of the Haven once again. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.

* * *

Holly nodded numbly, struggling not to understand the implications of Commander Kelp's speech. She'd run into him at LEP headquarters, and he had instantly pulled her aside, insisting on a full explanation of last night's events. The list from Foaly felt as heavy as a rock, hidden away in her pocket, and she couldn't help but believe that Kelp could see right through her as she answered his questions, finishing her explanation of what had happened at Fowl Manor that night, excluding Artemis's kiss and mention of the chrysalis. She had to tell him that Artemis was dead- even if it wasn't true, it was still one of the hardest things she'd ever had to say.

Commander Kelp watched her sympathetically, his hands clasped behind his back. Holly supposed she should feel important; he had a dozen more important things to do right now and yet, here he was, listening to her report on what happened on the surface. He sighed heavily, breaking the silence, and finally spoke. "I'm sorry for your loss, Captain. Normally, I'd offer you time off, but under the circumstances…"

"Of course. I understand. It's as Julius once told me; I'm not more important than the People."

Kelp nodded in comprehension. "Exactly." There was a long, pregnant pause before Kelp took a deep breath and gestured towards the door. "LEP is searching the city for prison escapees and assisting other emergency services. Transporting people to hospitals, helping to get them out of crushed buildings- whatever it takes. If you do happen to run into a criminal, we're only concerned with violent offenders at this time, and only try to contain them if it's not a serious risk to yourself. Get moving, Short." He moved to the door and walked outside, then hesitated, glancing back at her. "I _am_ truly sorry for his death. Once this crisis is over, I'll see to it that he gets a medal for his sacrifices to the People. First human ever to receive one."

Holly swallowed, struggling to find an appropriate response for someone whose friend was dead and wasn't coming back. Finally, she said, her voice thick with emotion, "Thank you, sir, but a medal won't bring him back."

Kelp didn't have anything to say to that. He simply nodded before leaving her to herself.

Closing her eyes, Holly relaxed, threw her head back to stare at the ceiling. She couldn't do this. Pretending that Artemis was dead was starting to make it harder to accept that this plan would actually work.

She took a moment to calm herself, then stood, determined to find Foaly's assistants. She was going to do everything she could to keep him alive, even if that wasn't much.

Finding Foaly's assistants ended up being easier than she had thought, but getting them to come with her was another story. They, along with every other computer specialist in the building, were packed into Foaly's lab like sardines, working frantically- and futilely- to reverse the technology crash. She had to shout for quiet several times, just so she could find the fairies in question and pull them out into the hallway. One was a centaur, like Foaly, while the other two were elves, and all three only went after her grudgingly, clearly impatient.

"I have a message from Foaly," she said urgently, trying to get them to follow her down the hall. "He needs all three of you at his back up lab immediately. I can't say why; he'll explain the situation to you himself."

"Captain, we're busy here. We won't get permission to leave by anyone in their right mind, not in this situation, and-"

"Please! This is an unofficial, off the books LEP operation and it is very important that we get started as soon as possible. Foaly asked for you himself and the work you will be doing with him is very important- even more so than what you're doing here."

The three still looked skeptical, but Holly could tell she was getting through to them. Unfortunately for them, her patience was rapidly running thin. "Come on!" she pleaded. "You won't be missed here, but Foaly _needs_ this. If you get down there _now_, you could save someone's life."

All three of them laughed tiredly and shook their heads together. "Captain," the centaur chuckled, "we're working to save the entire city. You're going to have to do better than one life."

Holly pinned him up against the wall, her anger reaching a boiling point. "Listen here, you arrogant little prick!" she shouted. "Getting those computers up and running won't do a damn thing! Even if you, by some miracle, fix up his lab, the Haven will still be in ruins! People are out there hurt and dying and a computer won't change that! You're going to come with me, because I'm not going to let my friend die just because you think you're too important to help him! You are coming with me n_ow_, whether you want to or not!"

The three were pale and shaking and barely able to speak by the time they hurried out of the building after Holly less than five minutes later. They didn't know what scared them more, Holly or the streets full of escaped goblins eager to burn an elf to a crisp.

Holly led them along a smoking street, feeling more like she was in a war zone than the Haven. She found herself thankful, for once, that she didn't have many close friends- she couldn't imagine being able to focus now if anyone she cared for had been in the Haven when technology crashed and she hadn't heard from them. With the internet and cell phone networks down, people had no way of contact and were searching for family members, frantic and desperately hoping that they weren't about to find a dead body. Everyone she knew and cared for was, thank the gods, alive.

Except for one- and she was determined to change that.

Holly nearly tripped as she led Foaly's soon to be assistants through the ash, coughing up dust and struggling to breathe. She hadn't seen anything like this since she and Artemis had been abandoned on the island of Hybras. The fire and smoke and ash, heavy in the air, reminded her of the volcano and the demons.

_Demons… oh, no. No1!_

No1 was on the moon when catastrophe hit. If the younger Opal's death had caused explosions on the moon, it could be even worse than the disaster underground. Even one malfunction up there could cause the entire Lunar base to become a death trap. Best case scenario, nothing had happened and everyone on the moon was wondering why communications with Earth were down and why satellites had spontaneously burst into flames.

Worst case scenario, everyone was dead.

"D'Arvit, Opal," she muttered under her breath, earning her strange looks from her three companions. She was going to have to ask Foaly. It was likely he wouldn't even know, either; no one had suspected how deep Opal's influence in the human world was, and not even Artemis had predicted that his world would collapse. Who knew if her influence reached as far as the moon?

When she led the assistants into Foaly's lab, however, he seemed far too busy for any questions of hers. He was busy in the basement, staring down into the chrysalis intently and occasionally glancing at a notebook by his side, working on something under a microscope. She really had no idea what he was doing, but he was so engrossed in his work that he hadn't even noticed her, and she didn't want to startle him and end up messing up the beginning of the clone.

Foaly remained so concentrated on his work that he didn't even notice the newcomers for at least three minutes. Finally, Holly cleared her throat and he jumped, looking over at her in a panic. "Holly? When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. Didn't want to interrupt, but was getting impatient. Did I-"

"Yes, you did interrupt me, but never mind that. Alex, Kensi, and Mayne, thanks for coming on such short notice. Holly, would you mind explaining the situation to them for me? I'm very busy."

Holly sighed, glancing back at the impatient people behind her. "Fine. But I'm making no promises that my explanation will be fully correct or even make sense. Listen up, you three. Foaly is trying to make a clone- a human clone. It's very important that it gets done as fast as possible as well as kept secret. Only the people in this room can know about it. He's going to need your help and it's vitally important that the clone is finished as soon as you can get it done."

Foaly's nephew looked over her shoulder at his uncle, who was still intently focused on how work, and shook his head. "Captain, cloning is illegal. And now is no time for experiments, not with the Haven in-"

"Do you _really_ think I just dragged you down here for nothing more important than an _experiment?_ I am also fully aware that cloning is illegal, but the LEP has more important things to worry about than that particular law right now. And if you don't do this…"

"Just tell them everything, Holly," Foaly called over his shoulder. "They're smart enough to not get involved in a project like this if it's not worth it. They won't help unless you tell them why they should."

So Holly told them the short version of the story that explained how this would save Artemis's life. She explained that he'd died after risking everything to close the second gate and that all he needed was this clone to come back to life. It wasn't the same story she had told Foaly; she omitted how Artemis had drugged her and kissed her and smiled at her and died. She omitted the rest of the horror stories of that night and that, if this didn't work, one of the most important people in her life would be dead.

"I owe him my life," Holly finished with. "He trusted me to be able to pull this off. I just need a little help."

The three were silent and watching her suspiciously. Holly knew that she was asking them to go through a lot of trouble for, in their eyes, nothing more than a human- but she wasn't going to give up. Any hoops she had to jump through, she would; nothing was going to stop her from pulling this off. Artemis had saved her life, and now, it was time that she saved his.

"And Foaly's helping you? He's willing to do all this for a human?"

"Artemis is- was my friend, Alex. I'm not just doing this for Holly, I'm doing this for him, too."

The three hesitated for a moment longer, then Alex, the male elf who seemed to be the leader of the trio, stepped forward and nodded. "Okay. We'll help."

"Good!" Foaly exclaimed. "Now, Holly, get out. We have work to do."


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for reviewing! I introduce an OC in this chapter. I own her, unlike Artemis and everyone else- I wish I owned them, though. Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into some weird Artemis and Holly adopt the OC and get married and live happily ever after fic. The OC may make a few more appearances, but she's nothing but a minor character, if that.

Holly finally reached Foaly's back up lab after working to free a sprite from a crushed building for five hours. She was exhausted and still hadn't slept since the night before Opal had attacked Fowl Manor, nor was it likely that she would get the chance to rest anytime soon. She had been in the neighborhood and decided to stop by Foaly's lab and see how the clone was going, mostly because she hadn't been able to get the project off her mind and she wanted to spend as much time with the clone as possible. She wanted to make sure nothing went wrong, because this was Artemis's last shot. While she couldn't do much, she could at least stay and watch Foaly's progress.

So Holly stumbled inside the lab, rubbing aching muscles and fighting sleep. "Oh, what I wouldn't give for an adrenaline patch right now," she muttered under her breath.

The first floor was empty and still dark, so she made her way to the basement, where she had found Foaly and his three assistants working hard, though she couldn't exactly tell what they were doing. She cleared her throat and stepped forward, heading for Foaly, who was examining the chrysalis. "Foaly?" she asked softly, and the centaur jumped.

"Holly?" he exclaimed, barely sparing her a glance before turning back and continuing his work. "You surprised me. What are you doing here? Don't you have work to do?"

"I've been working for five hours straight without a break- I think I deserve ten minutes off. I came to see how things were going." She peered into the chrysalis, then frowned. "Foaly, haven't you guys even gotten started? This thing is empty!"

Foaly glared at her. "How do you think clones happen? The stork just drops them off? I have to grow them, Holly. Here, look for yourself. Don't get too close, though; until it's bigger, I have to use radiation treatments to deliver the medication it needs to grow faster." He moved aside, gesturing for her to look at the chrysalis through what she now realized was a microscope. Holly hesitated, then followed his lead, half expecting to see a tiny Artemis looking up at them.

All she could see through the microscope was a collection of gray spots. It looked nothing like progress; it looked more like a murky liquid than anything else. "That's it?" she asked, pulling back and glancing at Foaly. "That's supposed to be Artemis?"

"Technically, that's nothing but a collection of human stem cells with Artemis's DNA. Considering I started with nothing but a tiny bit of saliva, I think I deserve a little more praise than that." Foaly pushed her out of the way and went back to work, taking notes on what he saw as his assistants bustled around the lab, during god knows what.

Holly shook her head. "So, how long before it'll be something visible? There's no way that thing will be a fully grown human in six months."

"You'd be surprised. And, technically, this is visible, just not to the naked eye."

"Foaly, I swear-"

"I don't know the answer to your question, Holly. Opal took notes on her clone's progression and I recovered them from the Koboi labs, but they're cryptic, and I'm having a lot of trouble deciphering what little she recorded. She doesn't say when her clone reached different periods of development. Despite how it looks, things are going very well. I have to turn the entire human gestation period into nothing longer than a week- come back then and you'll see what looks like a catatonic baby Artemis. Assuming I haven't botched it and bred a mutant or killed him by then."

"Foaly!"

"What?" Foaly walked away from the chrysalis to another monitor. "I replicated some of his DNA and stored it before I put it into the chrysalis, so if this baby dies, I'll be able to start fresh. But, I have to warn you, the longer this takes, the more unlikely it'll be this'll work. If it takes longer than seven months, then we might as well give up. Let him go…"

Holly glared at him. "Foaly, we're not going to _let him go_. He didn't let me go. Not ever. I don't care how long it takes to make this clone, we have to try!"

"Everything we're doing here is against fairy law and my conscience, Holly. Why do you think I'm still here? I care about Artemis, too. He's my friend and I'm going to try my hardest to pull this off, but if I can't, there's no back up plan. I'm sorry. He'd want us to move on if we couldn't-"

"You haven't failed yet, Foaly. I don't know why you're talking like you have." Holly crossed her arms and glanced back at the chrysalis. It was nothing more than a collection of cells tying Artemis to life. The only thing stopping her from descending into despair was the fact that that was more than this morning. This morning, there was nothing but a limp body and staring eyes and a heart that didn't beat and lungs that didn't breathe. At least this was something.

"How are you still awake?" she asked Foaly for a change of subject. "I'm practically dead, but you look fine."

Foaly glanced at her in surprise, then blinked, as if really seeing her for the first time. "Wow. You look worse for wear. Have you even slept at all since I last saw you?"

She chuckled tiredly. "Does five minutes at a desk at LEP count?"

"No, not really. Here. Take this. It's what I've been using to stay alert." Foaly offered her an adrenaline patch and winked. "That'll last for about two hours. Afterwards, you'll be even worse than you are now, but-"

"Thanks, but I've used them before. I'd rather take a sedative, honestly... I'm about to pass out."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. If you want, you can't hunt around upstairs, see if anything survived the fire that you can take to get some rest. I would help, but we're all busy down here. "

"Fine." Holly turned away from him and headed for the stairs, but not before glancing back at the chrysalis. _Hang in there, Artemis. We're coming. _

* * *

Holly was unable to speak with Foaly for several days. After returning to LEP headquarters, she'd gotten involved in one operation after another, with no opportunity for her to hurry off and watch the beginnings of an illegal clone. It was two and a half days before she was finally given a break, and, by that time, she was absolutely exhausted. In seventy two hours, she had grabbed three hours of sleep and a granola bar. She'd also helped put out a raging fire, transported three injured fairies to a hospital- all magic was to be reserved for emergencies only until contact with the surface was restored, so the Ritual could be performed- gotten in a fight with three violent goblins that had escaped from the Deeps, and dragged two dead bodies out of a warehouse about to collapse.

She was exhausted and about ready to pass out, something her unit's major had sensed had ordered to get some sleep. LEP officers walking around half-dead was almost worse than no police force at all, he'd said. As Holly's apartment had been one of the many casualties of the explosion, she could either go to a refugee camp, couch it at LEP, or go down to check on Artemis and hope there was a place at Foaly's lab for her to grab an hour or two of sleep. She stumbled downy he street, her eyes heavy with sleep and her stomach growling, so tired that she didn't even notice the tiny elf in her path until she spoke up.

"Excuse me?"

Holly blinked, looking down to see a small child looking up at her with teary eyes, her right arm held close to her chest and her face covered with dirt and ash. The sight was becoming something she was used to, but that didn't mean she was desensitized to it. Holly got down on her knees so she was the girl's height and forced herself to smile. "Yes?"

"You're Holly Short? The police officer?"

Holly frowned. She had never seen this girl before in her life. "Yes. How did you know?"

The girl sighed in relief and smiled at her. "I remember from when you were on TV a couple years ago. Mommy said the TV people were telling lies about you and that you were actually a good police officer."

Holly held back a smile and nodded. The girl was referring to the news coverage after Opal had killed Julius, where she'd often been vilified and blamed for her commander's death. There were many rumors that LEP had fired her, rather than her quitting, and Ark Sool had done nothing to spread the truth. While Holly had never been particularly bothered by what other people thought of her "Thank you. Can you tell me your name?"

"Ana."

"Okay, Ana. Are you lost? Do you know where your parents are?"

Ana's eyes filled with tears and she nodded, lowering her head and staring at the ground. "They're dead. I was at school when we had to evacuate. Afterwards, the teacher led us back to the Haven and told us to stay together, but I left and ran home. Daddy made me memorize how to get from the blast gates to home in case something like this happened. I got home but it was on fire and I couldn't get inside. Cops like you came and put the fire out and went inside and then they left. I went in too and my parents were in there. They wouldn't wake up, no matter how hard I tried."

Holly couldn't help but feel awful for the poor child. She couldn't be more than eight years old and was an orphan. "Oh, Ana, I'm so sorry," she murmured, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

Aa cried harder and shook her head. "A neighbor came in and found me. Mrs. Catras. She told me that they were gone and weren't coming back. I know that means they're dead."

Holly winced in sympathy. "I could take you to a refugee camp, or if you have a friend in the city and know they're address, I can take you there and see if they can take care of you."

"I'm really sorry… I just got lost! And then I got hungry but couldn't find anything to eat. Mrs. Catras gave me a bottle of water when she found me but I drank that and now I'm really thirsty, too. And I hurt my arm in the crowds earlier. I thought it would just stop hurting, like they usually do, but it hasn't and I can't move it." Ana sobbed lightly and averted her brown eyes, and Holly couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Come on," she said, leading her over to the ruins of a building and sitting her down an unrecognizable, charred object. "I can look at your arm for you. How old are you, Ana?"

Ana shrugged, then winced. "Eight and a half."

"Can you use magic? Did you try to heal it yourself?" she asked as she examined the little girl's injury. Children of her age were normally just beginning to be instructed in magic and normally couldn't do more than conjure a few sparks.

Ana nodded again. "I tried. No one ever taught me before and it hurts even more now, so I think I did it wrong. I'm really sorry."

Holly smiled at her reassuringly. "It's okay. When I was your age, I wasn't able to heal anything either. It seems like you broke your arm in the crowd. When you tried to heal it, you only made it worse. I can't help you myself; I'm supposed to ration magic in case of fatal injuries. But I can take you to a hospital, and it may take a while, but they'll make you feel better and give you some food."

For the first time since their meeting, Ana's teary eyes brightened, and she raised her head and smiled hopefully. "Really? You'll help me?"

Holly hesitated. She hadn't been able to check in with Foaly in three days and was starting to get worried about Artemis. She wanted to go see how things were going- but Artemis would still be there tomorrow. She smiled and nodded, holding out her hand for the little fairy to take. "Of course I will," she said simply. "I'm a police officer. We're supposed to help people."

Ana took her hand and followed her down the street. They were both quiet for a few moments before she spoke up hesitantly. "Miss Short, I'm sorry for trying to heal myself and making it worse. I wouldn't have done it if I had known it would cause all this trouble… my arm just hurt really bad… I couldn't even sleep it hurt so much, and-"

"Hey, it's fine. I understand. I've had broken bones before, too, and they do hurt a lot."

"Really? How'd you get hurt?"

Holly chuckled humorlessly. _Well, let's see,_ she thought. She'd gotten half her bones broken in a fight with a troll. She'd lost a finger in the Arctic. She'd nearly been burned to death when Opal had killed Julius. Nearly broken her back when she'd been hurt by a grenade in Taiwan before being lifted out of this dimension. She'd actually died in Hybras. The list went on and on, none of the stories appropriate for a child.

Finally, she spoke. "When I was ten, I got in a fight with a boy. He insulted my new haircut and I got mad and hit him."

Ana giggled weakly, her eyes still teary, and looked up at her. Emboldened by her response, Holly continued. "We were fighting for at least five minutes before a teacher came and broke us up. I had a broken arm, just like you. He was a lot worse. I broke his leg."

"Wow."

Holly chuckled. "I know. It's not something that I should be proud of, but I am. That's actually when I first realized I wanted to be a cop."

Ana frowned. "Really?"

"Yep. My father was very disappointed in me and told me I wasn't going to amount to anything if I went around hitting people, then said that I might as well put my talents to good use and become the first female cop. At the time, he was joking- he didn't think I would take him seriously." Holly laughed, thinking back on the memory.

Ana smiled again before lowering her head and rubbing at her cheek with the heel of her hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered. There was a loud boom in the distance, the now telltale sound of a building collapsed, and Ana didn't even wince. "It's… just…" her voice struggled as more tears spilled down her cheeks. "I miss my parents," she finally said. "I miss them a lot."

Holly squeezed her hand and remained silent. When her mother had died, one of the worst things about the entire situation was people going to her and telling her that they understood what she was feeling, and that would get better with time. Right now, Ana didn't want someone to tell her that it was all going to be okay eventually. She just wanted her parents back.

She looked down at the small child, now an orphan, and sighed. Artemis had practically been an orphan when he was just two years older than her. At ten, his father was missing, presumed dead, and his mother was clinically insane. The difference in the two children was amazing. Both Artemis and Ana had responded with resilience and strength, but the cold-hearted youth who had kidnapped her was nothing like this teary-eyed child who elicited nothing but sympathy from her.

Then again, the Artemis of today wasn't even recognizable with the boy she had first met. And that thought made her even more miserable. The old Artemis never would have sacrificed himself. He would have retreated underground and let his race be wiped out and taken advantage of the resulting situation. The old Artemis never would have done something so selfless, and Holly never would have gone to such lengths to bring the old Artemis back to life.

"You look sad, Miss Short."

Holly jumped. "Huh?"

"Why are you so sad, Miss Short? You're crying."

She blinked, then quickly rubbed her tears away and put on a convincing smile. "Call me Holly. And I am sad. Because I lost someone in what happened, too."

"Oh. Who did you lose?"

Who did she lose? There were so many different answers to that question she couldn't even try to say them all.

Finally, she settled for the simplest- and truest- one.

"My best friend."

Ana looked away again, and they continued walking in silence for a while. When they reached the hospital, which was so full of injured fairies that it could take over a day for someone like Ana to be seen, though, the child spoke up. "I'm sorry you lost your friend."

Holly smiled down at her. "Me too, Ana. Me too." Then she leaned down and picked her up, allowing Ana to wrap her good arm around her neck to hold on. "Now, come on. Wouldn't want you to get hurt in another crowd."

Holly worked her way through the crowd to a nurse, holding Ana tightly and fighting through waves of fairies trying to be seen. She finally made it to the counter, and the nurse took one look at her and Ana before shaking her head.

"Is it serious?"

"What? No-"

"Then take a number. Current wait time is a day and a half."

Holly's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right?"

The nurse shook her head. "Wish I was. I'm serious; take a number and wait."

Holly hesitated, then decided that she could give up a few sparks. Shaking her head but not bothering to say anything else over the din, she carried Ana outside again and set her down the ruins of yet another building. "I have a better idea, Ana. I'll just heal you myself. It'll be a lot faster, and I've healed much worse than this before. You'll be fine."

Ana held out her arm and Holly conjured a few sparks. "Heal," she whispered, resting her hand on Ana's wrist. The sparks hurried from her hand to the child's arm, instinctively targeting her injured bone and healing it in mere seconds. There was a nauseating click as the bone moved back into place before Ana smiled blearily and leaned against Holly. Holly immediately shook her off.

"Come on, Ana, you have to stay awake," she muttered, grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to shake off the post healing vertigo. "Ana."

The little girl shook her head and rubbed her eyes, then sat up straighter and forced her eyes open. "Yes?"

Holly smiled broadly, helping her down to her feet and leading her back to the street. "That's good. You can't fall asleep yet, Ana, not until you've got a place to sleep. Do you know anyone in the city?" she asked, knowing it wasn't likely.

Sure enough, Ana shook her head. "I have friends at school, but I don't know where any of them live. I don't even know my own address… I'm really sorry."

"That's fine, Ana. I can take you to a refugee camp. There's one not too far from here. It'll be kind of scary at first, but you'll have something to eat everyday and a place to sleep, which is better than you'll get on the street." Holly tried to smile comfortingly, but Ana just bit her lip and stared down at the ground. If Holly could, she would have taken Ana back to her usual neighborhood and see if any friends of her parents would take her, but she doubted Ana would be able to lead her back to her house, and it could take hours for her to find it off what Ana remembered. As much as she felt sorry for this poor child, she couldn't do anything more than what she was doing now. She did have other responsibilities and still wanted to see how things were going with the clone. She already missed Artemis and it had barely been three days.

They had only been walking for a short time when Ana glanced back up at her, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "You have funny eyes."

Holly smiled at her and chuckled weakly. "You mean how they're two different colors? You're right, it is strange, but I like it anyway."

"How'd you get them to look like that? I kind of like it."

"Well, that's a long story. This one," she said, tapping her brown eye, "this one's mine The other one isn't. It's… a friend's. He has my eye, too." Holly swallowed the lump in her throat and lowered her hand. Her eye that had killed him.

Ana didn't seem to notice her pause. "How'd you do that?"

Holly hesitated, struggling to turn their journey from Limbo to this dimension in a few simple words that Ana could understand. Finally, she smiled slightly, coming up with the perfect word. "Magic. It was an accident, but I like it. It reminds me of him. And I like to think that it reminds him of me."

"Do you think you could do that for me?" Ana asked hopefully. "Switch my eyes with someone else's? My friend has really pretty blue eyes but she always says she wants my green eyes. Could you-"

"No, no. I don't think so, Ana," she chuckled. "It'd be really dangerous. If you knew what that would entail, I would don't think that you would be so eager to try it out… besides, it's more trouble than it's worth."

"What do you mean?"

Holly opened her mouth to answer, then thought better of it. She wasn't about to burden this sad little girl with horror stories of what had happened at Fowl Manor such a short while ago. How could she even say that the night had ended with her _murdering_ her friend?

Shaking her head, Holly muttered, "Never mind. Just get colored contacts."

Clearly hurt and confused by Holly's suddenly cold response, Ana looked away and remained silent. Holly realized this and looked down at her, trying to find the right words to say. "Look, Ana, I'm sorry. The friend I swapped eyes with died just a few days ago. It's a sore subject."

"Oh. I'm sorry. What happened?"

Holly shrugged carefully. "I don't really like to talk about it. Sorry, it's just too soon- and there's so much that I don't know yet. I don't know if I'll ever see him again, and talking about what happened just…" Holly shook her head again and fell silent. She didn't want to talk about what happened and talk about Artemis as if he was dead because he wasn't. He wasn't dead, but the more times she was forced to lie and say he was, the harder it was for her to believe that, in six months, he could really be gone forever.

Ana didn't ask about Artemis again, remaining quiet and withdrawn for the rest of the journey.

They finally reached the refugee camp, a sad collection of miserable fairies without homes or, in most cases, families. Ana wouldn't be the only orphan here. At the entrance to the camp, Holly knelt down so she was at Ana's eye level and rested her hands on her shoulders. "Ana, listen to me. I'm going to give you my watch. When it says 8:30, I want you to come back here. I'm going to be very busy, but I will try to come back here then and see how things are going, okay?"

"Wait, you're not staying?"

Holly winced at the panic in Ana's voice. She shook her head. "No, I can't. I have to help a lot of other fairies- fairies just like you. And you're a big girl now, Ana. Your parents would want you to go into the camp and find something to eat and take care of yourself."

"But… but… I don't want to. I want to see my parents." Tears spilled over once again, and Holly wrapped her arms and Ana for a moment.

"I know you do," she whispered in her ear. "I'm sorry." Then she stood, squeezing Ana's shoulders and turning her around to face the refugee camp. "Remember. Meet me here at 8:30. I promise I'll try my hardest to come see you."

It took everything she had to turn and walk away without looking back.

When Holly was a few blocks away, she sighed heavily, allowing the tension to seep out of her muscles as she lowered her head in exhaustion. She felt awful for Ana, but the entire time she'd been with her, Artemis had been on her mind. She missed him and didn't think she could handle six months without him. It had only been three days and it felt like she needed to talk with him, because there were so many things she had never said- even more than that, he was her friend, and didn't want him to be dead. In the past, it was common for them to go one or two weeks without speaking; they were both busy and didn't have time to just sit around and talk. However, in the past six months, they had grown closer and talked more than they had ever had before. With Artemis dealing with his Atlantis Complex, she had been exposed to a side of him that she had never seen before- one that felt guilt, and humility, and fear, and she had found herself reassuring him more than once that he would recover and everything would be okay.

Afterwards, she had assumed that he would return to the surface and they would continue on just as they always had. Instead, he had sacrificed himself, dying in a selfless plan that she never would have though Artemis Fowl would think up.

"I'm sorry, Artemis," she murmured as she walked down the deserted street. "I wish I could have saved you."


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for all the reviews! And, in case you wonderful people are wondering, this fic is not going to end with Artemis's resurrection. It's probably not in best interest in regards to my school work, but I'm intending to make this quite a long monster. Also, my brother used to work in a lab that caused mutations in fruit flies like Artemis's sixth toe. (Or wings sprouting out of heads). So, everything in this chapter is as accurate as I can make it, considering I have no idea how one would go about making a clone in a chrysalis. Current methods of human cloning are theoretical and would still require the same human gestation period- which Foaly obviously bypassed, as Artemis 2.0 was fifteen-ish years old in six months. I've done as much research as I can. Also, after the disturbing plethora of grammatical errors in the last chapter, I'll be keeping a closer eye on what I type. Sorry. I started school Wednesday and have since been very busy.

"You got it yet, Foaly?"

"No, I do not 'got it yet!' Do you know how far away the moon is? I can't just push a few keys and make it work like magic! I could sure get it a lot _faster_ if you just stopped interrupting me, though!"

Trouble shrugged, sipping his coffee and tapping his foot impatiently. "I'm just saying. You've been at it for an hour."

"Give me ten more minutes. Then I'll wow you. Until then, I'd kindly appreciate you shutting the hell up," Foaly muttered crossly, his fingers still blurring across the multiple keyboards spanning the desk.

"You're testy without any sleep. I never thought I'd say it, but I think I like you better when you're more interested in gloating over your latest gadget."

Foaly remained silent, continuing to work on getting a connection with their lunar base and sulking. Apparently, it was a top priority, seeing as the strongest demon warlock had been on the moon when technology crashed and no one knew what the affects had been on the moon. Normally, Foaly would love to have the chance to explain everything he was doing to the commander, who had no choice but to stay and listen until connection was established- but, today, he he just wasn't in the mood. He had a headache from working too hard for too long, his stomach actually hurt from how hungry he was, and he kept thinking about the clone, unable to silence his worry that something had happened and he needed to get back there. It was day three since they had started and far too soon for him to leave it in the care of his technicians. Right now, he couldn't care less about establishing a connection with the moon.

"I really should get a secretary for grunt work like this," he muttered under his breath, still focused on intensely on the screen full of numbers. "Any graduate of tech school could figure this out."

"Foaly, a secretary is someone who fetches you coffee and schlepps things around for you. And, if it's so easy, why haven't you figured it out by now?"

"Because, it's not that I don't know _how_ to fix it, it's just time-consuming. And… done." Foaly hit one more key on the keyboard and stepped back triumphantly. The screen of computer code blurred before being replaced by an image of a fairy in the lunar base.

The fairy's eyes widened, and he stared at them in shock before glancing over her shoulder and shouting for others to come and join him. Almost immediately, five elves and a demon rushed out to stare at the computer monitor in surprise. "Who are you?" one of the elves asked urgently.

"No1 is fine. Good," Trouble said, relieved. "I'll go tell Qwan and the Council."

"Wait! What am I…" Foaly trailed off as Trouble left, leaving him alone with the confused fairies on the moon. Groaning, he turned back to face them. "I'm from LEP. Are you all okay? What happened up there?"

"What do you mean, 'up here'? Nothing happened 'up here'. All we know is that all communications with Earth suddenly went dark and satellites exploded. _We're_ all fine. What happened down there?"

Foaly let out a tense breath and shook his head. "You have no idea how lucky you are. I'll get someone in here to explain everything to you in a second, but, right now, I need to talk to No1 alone."

The elves looked at each other in confusion, then shook their heads and walked out of his line of vision, albeit with some grumbling. Foaly was almost surprised they went without protest before he remembered that they had no idea how serious the situation was. No matter what they were imagining, the reality was worse.

"Foaly, what's going on?" No1 asked. "Why did the Commander want to see me?"

"Because, until now, I bet he was afraid you were dead."

No1's expression twisted into what Foaly had to guess was the demon's equivalent of a frown. "But… I'm right here. Couldn't he see me with one of your cameras? I'm fine!"

Foaly shook his head. "No. Until just now, we had no idea if things were better or worse on the moon than they are down here. Now that I'm in contact with you, though, I think that you should know something."

"Know what?"

He paused. Was telling No1 about Artemis's death really the best decision? The less people that knew about him, the easier it would be if and when he came back to life in six months. While No1 would find out sooner or later, perhaps it would be best if, for now, he remained in the dark. No1 had always liked Artemis and found him interesting- if a bit peculiar- and it wouldn't do him any good to learn that he was dead.

"Just… that… you'll probably have to come back to Earth as soon as possible. We need every bit of magic we can get right now, and you are the most powerful warlock."

No1's face fell. "What? But I like it up here! We demons come from the moon, you know. I've never been this close to it before and it's almost like I've found my other half. My soul mate- my home!"

Foaly grimaced. No1 preferred to speak in English, as he had grown up speaking a garbled version of Gnomish that had become so twisted by demons it was nearly indecipherable to fairies on Earth- however, as he had learned most of English from an 18th century romance novel, it was rather like talking to a romantic fool rather than a warlock. It had gotten to the point where Artemis had practically begged the demon to speak in Gnomish, after growing sick of listening to talk of soul mates and star-crossed lovers and old-fashioned wishy-washy romance- yet No1 had persisted. Even with his gift of tongues allowing him to speak in any language he wished, he still preferred old, romantic English.

No1 was still speaking of how much he loved being on the moon. Foaly cut him off before he grew nauseous, saying, "I know, I know. Please don't continue. I'm sorry, but it's necessary. When you see the Haven, you'll understand, but enjoy the moon while you can. You still have a good few weeks up there, probably more, because I don't have any working spacecraft."

Foaly wasn't anywhere near finished, but before he could continue, his cell phone started to ring. Stepping away, he glanced down at the number, then blanched. He had left one of the phones he had built himself at the lab- one of the only devices in the world that still had service- so he could be contacted in an emergency, but certainly hadn't expected one to pop up this quickly. He gestured for one of his lab technicians to take over and walked away, answering the call. "Mayne, if this isn't an emergency, then you have literally five seconds to hang up and wish that you had never been born."

Mayne chuckled nervously. "Well, it's not an emergency, but you did say to call you as soon as the clone was visible to the naked eye."

"Please tell me you didn't just see a tiny spot in the chrysalis and ran straight to the phone. Because I could see that when I left this morning."

"No, it's not, actually. We've been debating whether or not to call you for an hour, actually; it's gotten big enough to look like a baby puppy. You know, the kind that you can fit in the palm of your hand. It hardly looks anything like a Mud Man, but-"

"Are you serious? It's that big already?"

"Yeah. We just thought that you should know, considering-"

"Stop the radiation." Foaly burst out of his Ops Booth, preparing to run back to his back up lab as fast as he could without passing out. "Stop the radiation treatment_ right now!"_

He could hear the confusion in Mayne's voice as his nephew asked, "Are you sure? I thought those were the only reason the thing is growing so fast."

"Exactly. If it's already that big, it's reached phase two of development and radiation is very dangerous. Shut it off!"

"Okay, okay, it's off! Anything else, Your Majesty?"

Foaly rolled his eyes and panted, "I'm on my way. _Don't_ do anything else." LEP business would have to wait. If he let the clone project continue the way it was now, if it even lived past three months, it could wind up horribly mutated and would probably only be able to live a year, even on life support. His assistants clearly didn't know what to do, or they would have taken the clone off the radiation themselves.

Foaly jogged down the street, thinking, _If I haven't had a heart attack before these six months are over, I should get a medal._

* * *

The entire room was absolutely silent, Alex, Kensi, and mayne watching Foaly as the centaur struggled to put a needle in one of the human baby-like-creature's tiny veins. He was only working off Opal's notes and a theoretical knowledge of human anatomy, and while it was something he was going to have to get used to for the next six months, that didn't make it any easier.

Finally, the needle pierced the skin of the clone, and Foaly leaned back, allowing himself to relax. "There. It's done. Mayne, hook him up to the first batch of steroids."

His nephew nodded and went to work, allowing Foaly to take advantage of the reprieve and sit, watching his assistants take care of the clone. "This isn't good."

"Why?" Mayne asked. "It's growing faster than you thought. That's got to be a good thing."

Foaly rolled his eyes. "You're not seeing the big picture here. Its exoskeleton is growing faster than I expected, but that says nothing about its internal organs, which I'm more concerned about. I'm going to have to rework a few calculations. And, if the clone's growth continues to be this unexpected, it'll be a lot longer before I can let you all leave with only one left to make it sure it lives."

His announcement was, predictably, met with a loud chorus of groans. The three immediately began complaining and slumped with exhaustion, practically begging him to let them leave and get some rest. "Come on, Foaly!" Kensi moaned, gesturing to the creature inside the chrysalis. "The thing doesn't even _look_ like a baby! It just looks like a weird mutant."

Foaly let them protest, knowing that this really was miserable and unrewarding work and that they had every right to be angry. _They_ didn't know or care about the human they were striving to resurrect; this was just doing Foaly a favor, in their eyes. And Foaly was sure that when they came to collect on what he owed them, he would regret this entire debacle.

"I'm sorry. I know, I know, I owe you all for this. Just don't harass me about it until _after _this clone is grown up and gone- I'll make up for all of this then." None of his assistants looked satisfied, but they at least stopped grumbling. Foaly paused, glancing back at the clone before forcing himself to his feet.

"Listen, all of you. I have to get back to LEP before the commander realizes I'm gone. I'll be back tonight; in the mean time, keep a close eye on the clone. Consult Opal's notes if you have too, and only call me if it's an emergency. I'll let you take a break tonight."

* * *

It was early the next morning when Foaly finally left the basement, after being relieved by his assistants from the duty of clone babysitting. He was absolutely exhausted and had no intentions of returning until he had gotten at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. That is, until his phone rang.

He seriously considered not even looking at who was calling, just throwing it behind him and ignoring it. He actually let it ring for several seconds before finally glancing down at the little ringing device, the sound high pitched and annoying, knowing that Holly would never forgive him if he let the clone die simply because he was too tired to work.

"Mayne, you had better hope this is an emergency. If this is not, I will wreck such an unholy wrath that you will wish that-"

"It is an emergency. I think. I don't actually know. I mean, nothing's happened _yet,_ but-"

The panic and urgency in Mayne's voice was certainly not a good sign, and it worried Foaly. "What did you _do?!_"

"It wasn't me! It was Alex! This is his fault!"

Foaly swore under his breath, regretfully turning around to return to his back up lab. "_What_ is his fault? What happened?"

Mayne chuckled nervously. "We were refilling the clone's supply of steroids. Everything was fine, I swear. But Alex didn't grab the right vial; he read the label wrong."

"_What did you do?!_"

"We accidentally gave the clone _hydroxyl_amine, not _Squal_amine…"

Foaly nearly passed out. He actually stumbled, tripping over his own feet; he felt dizzy. "You. Did. W_hat?!_" he shouted as he finally picked up his pace again, actually dashing down the street. "_How?!_ The names don't even look alike! How in Frond's name could he _misread_ the label?!"

"I'm sorry! We realized after ten minutes and stopped the medication and got it back on the steroids! We just thought that you should know-"

"D'Arvit, Mayne, do you even realize what you've done? Didn't you even take a chemistry course in whatever school you got your worthless degree at? Do you even _know_ what hydroxylamine _is?!"_

Mayne's shaking voice apologized again, and Foaly just swore and told him he'd be there as soon as possible before hanging up. Last year, when his nephew had accidentally spilled an entire bottle of wine on Caballine's head at a party, Foaly had thought he could _never_ be more angry at Mayne. _Well, this takes the cake. This takes the D'Arviting cake.  
_

He made a new record in getting to his back up lab, bursting down into the basement to find Mayne, Alex, and Kensi practically cowering around the clone, watching the beeping monitors and making frantic notes about everything they observed. They flinched when he skidded into the room, almost afraid of him. "Tell. Me. Everything," he ordered, hurrying forward to look at the clone. It was alive and looked just like he had left it- a lump of skin with a head and undefined limbs, its dark blue eyes staring up at them innocently. That meant nothing; the mistake Alex had made was unlikely to have affects this quickly.

"I'm _so_ sorry," Alex said meekly. "I just misread the label, that's all. It had only been nine and a half minutes before Kensi caught my mistake and we switched the thing onto the right medication right away. The clone seems fine; no fluctuations in heart rate or brain waves or-"

"Just be quiet." Foaly took a deep breath, struggling to calm his anger down into something controllable. Finally, he spoke again, glaring at Alex the entire time. "Luckily for you, ten minutes without Squalamine is not going to kill him. It was a precaution to protect it from getting an infection."

The three slumped with relief, Alex's shoulders falling as he stopped biting his lip and the fear left his eyes. However, Foaly wasn't finished yet.

"_Un_luckily for you, ten minutes with hydroxylamine _will!_" Foaly slammed his fist down on the chrysalis and the three flinched. "Do you _know_ what I had hydroxylamine stored here for? My biological experiments. I used it to cause mutations. _It's a mutagen!_"

Alex blanched while the other two took a step back from his wrath. The elf responsible glanced nervously down at the clone before looking back to Foaly, actually shaking slightly. "C-can't you j-just restart? You t-told the captain that you s-stored more DNA…"

"Oh! It's just that easy!" Foaly actually laughed, moving away and gesturing wildly around the room. "It's just that easy for you, isn't it? Mess up so we start over? Well, I've got news for you, Alex- it doesn't work like that! When I told Captain Short that, I was assuming it would take more than two weeks for one of you to sign the clone's death sentence! I don't _have_ anymore of the steroids I used to get it this far. I was working on getting some more, but they take time to synthesize, and I can't order them from any labs because all the labs _exploded_ less than a week ago. If I started over now, you know how long it would take to get the clone this far along again? _Three months!_ A full grown clone would take over a year to make, at this rate! Then we might as well give up and not even bother!"

The three were all pale and shaking by the time he finished. Alex looked like he was about to faint and Kensi wasn't much better. Mayne was the one who finally stammered, "W-what if we ju-just waited until you g-got the steroids again? Co-couldn't we just d-do that?"

Foaly laughed bitterly again. "Seven months, best case scenario. The clone would be ready in _no less_ than _seven months!_ We're already on such a tight schedule that every day we waste could be fatal to Artemis. An extra month? We don't have that kind of time! I don't know how much damage you did today, but I will tell you this- if the clone dies because of this mistake, I won't do anything."

The three looked at each other in confusion, slightly hopeful, before Foaly crushed them again. "I'll just tell Holly whose fault it is that her closet friend is dead. You remember her, right? If you thought you were scared of her before, you just wait until she finds out about this."

* * *

Foaly explored every possible avenue of getting the steroids he needed to restart the clone, even though he knew it was likely a dead end. He had hoped that had perhaps missed a lab in Haven or tried to find a way to get to Atlantis, but failed completely. The labs in Haven that hadn't caught on fire or exploded were in neighborhoods that were now so dangerous it would mean risking his life to try and get the medication. The only way for him to get to Atlantis would be to get a surface visa, travel to the surface, find a working port to Atlantis, take the shuttle down- and that was all assuming that Atlantis still had some of the drug he needed. It would take over a day and the chances that Atlantis would even have the medicine were astronomically low.

So he finally returned to the basement, grimacing at the low groans that met his arrival. "Relax," he called out, raising his hands in mock surrender. "I'm not here to yell at you. Well, perhaps you, Alex."

The tall elf flinched and looked away as Foaly trotted forward, the chrysalis in-between him and his assistants. "I'm here to apologize for working you all too hard. I know that you hadn't got a full night's sleep in at least three days when that mistake was made. I suppose I can't be too hard on you… you just misread _hydroxyl_amine for _Squal_amine. A mistake was made, but it is partly my fault. I worked you all too hard and didn't realize it, which I was supposed to do; you were working under me and I should have realized when you were worked so hard it impeded your ability to do your jobs. Even though you should have _never_ been so careless when it was someone's life in the balance, there's no use crying over spilled milk."

"My great uncle admits that he was wrong. Mama will never believe this! Just wait until she finds out!"

"Mayne, you tell my sister that and I swear, you'll regret it," Foaly snapped. "Anyway, as we're probably going to be working this hard for six months, I've written out a schedule. In a month, if the clone is doing well enough that all four of us don't have to be here, we can work in shifts. Alex, you'll be with Kensi, and I'll be with you, Mayne. Oh, wipe that smirk off your face, I just don't want to force Alex or Kensi to work with someone as insufferable as you."

His assistants glanced around at each other and shrugged. "All right…" Alex trailed off. "That sounds good."

Foaly smiled grimly. "That's because you haven't heard the rest of it. We'll work in rotations- twelve hours here, twelve hours at LEP, and twelve hours of rest. Of course, the team at LEP will have to work doubly hard, because the other team will be absent form work. I know that this a lot to ask for, but we _need_ this. Without your help, I don't have a chance at finishing in time. Once this crisis is over, you have all the time off you want you'll all get paid double what you're getting now… I just need your help for six months."

"Our 'help'?" Kensi asked bitterly. "No, Foaly- us 'helping' you would consist of us coming down here a few nights a week. What you're suggesting is practically slave labor."

"Yeah. You want three dead assistants on your conscience, you'll get it. In six months, you'll have a live human with two dead elves and a centaur on his way out."

Foaly glared at them. "I'm not suggesting that you work while I watch. I'd be working just as hard as you. If you three die, so will I."

The three glared at him. "Yeah, I'm sure," Mayne retorted. "I still want to know what we're getting out of this. Artemis is your friend- he's not ours."

The three watched him silently, waiting for a response. Foaly hesitated, then rolled his eyes and groaned. "If it doing it to save a friend to the People isn't enough, let me put it this way- Artemis Fowl owing you a favor is one of the best things that could ever happen to you. You won't regret it."

* * *

Holly rounded the corner and was very pleased to see Ana standing nervously at the entrance to the refugee camp. She was looking around uncertainly and drawing a few odd looks from those passing by, but the moment she saw Holly, she ran forward and hugged her tightly. "Holly!" she cried excitedly.

She smiled slightly, looking down at the tiny child hugging her legs. "Hey, Ana," she said. "You look better."

It was true. Instead of the distraught, nervous child Holly had been forced to leave behind yesterday, before her was a slightly more confident girl with a tiny grin. She was wearing new clothes and her face was no longer darkened with dirt and soot. She even looked a little happier than before, too.

Ana nodded. "I am." She released Holly but still reached up and grabbed her hand. "You came, like you said you would."

"Of course I did. So, Ana- how are things? Any better than before?"

Ana shrugged, still smiling. "I got a job. I thought about what you said, how Mama and Daddy would want me to be strong, and you were right. I got a job with a pixie. Doodah Day!"

Stiffening, Holly looked down at her a frown pulling on her lips. What would someone like Doodah Day want with Ana? How had the two even crossed paths? "Ana, what are you talking about? How did you get mixed up with him?"

"I was walking down the street and he came up to me. He said that he needed someone cute like me to talk to official people. He tells me what questions to ask, then gives me gold when I tell him answers."

Holly shook her head suspiciously. It sounded like Doodah Day was using Ana to get information from the authorities, something that didn't sit well with her. She supposed there were worse criminals than a fish smuggler that Ana could get involved with, but she still wasn't happy about it. "What kind of questions does he tell you to ask them?"

Ana shrugged. "Lots of stuff. Sometimes, he tells me to ask them things that I don't think he really cares about. Like before. I had to ask a cop all kinds of questions about my school and my friends, and Doodah Day got on his computer when he wasn't looking and searched some stuff. And this other time, he told me to ask about some guy named Mulch Diggums, but the cop didn't know much."

Holly sighed in relief. It seemed Doodah Day was just trying to take advantage of the situation, like everyone else, and was probably just searching for Mulch as a partner again. After all, in this disaster, there were probably few customers for his fish business, but that didn't mean he couldn't still make money. "Well," she said finally, "that's good, I suppose. Just don't let him get you mixed up in anything illegal, all right? Him and I go way back, and he's not exactly as straight as they come."

"I reformed! Now I'm nothing but a law abiding citizen!"

Holly spun around to see Doodah Day following them, his hands in his pockets, covered in ash and dust but otherwise appearing unharmed. Holly glared at him and moved to stand in front of Ana. "Law abiding citizen? Forgive me for doubting you, Doodah, but I have a lot of trouble believing that."

He raised his hands in protest. "While you were off time traveling, I was helping out at the PI of yours, Captain. Entirely reformed, I assure you."

"So why you need an eight year old to do your work for you?"

"Hey, it's nothing illegal." Doodah smiled at Ana before winking at Holly. "Cops are just more likely to talk to someone like her. She's easy to sympathize for, you know? And while they're distracted, I can take a look at their computers, see which of my old buddies are still alive, and maybe even get some information out of the cops. It's a win-win, Holly."

She glared at him. "I swear, if you're just using her to run a scam and you dump her at the first opportunity-"

"Relax. I kind of like her. She learns quick and isn't shy of work, like most elves her age. Besides, if you're friends with her, I'll have to make sure not to get on her bad side. You still terrify me."

"Good." Holly glanced down at Ana, who was staring up at the two of them in confusion, and hesitated. Doodah Day _was_ a streetwise, former criminal who was resourceful enough to keep his head up in the wake of this tragedy. While Holly still didn't like the idea of him being responsible for Ana's well being, in the current circumstances, she couldn't really ask for anyone better. He wasn't violent, had a conscience, and was rather well-liked. Ana would be better off with him than alone.

Her good opinion of Doodah Day immediately changed for the worse when he said, "Hey, word on the street is you got messy with Opal on the surface. You and that old Mud Boy friend of ours, Arty. All that true?"

She glared frostily at him. "That's _Artemis_ to you, and yes, 'all that' is true."

He whistled. "Well, con_grat_ulations, girl! What an accomplishment! I almost wish I had been there to see if for myself!"

"You're a coward and would have running screaming in less than ten minutes." Doodah scowled playfully, and Holly rested a hand on Ana's shoulder, determined to steer the topic in a different direction. "Doodah, give a minute alone with your new protege, will you?"

"Sure thing. Just don't turn her against me. Ana, I've got some more work for you, so hurry back when you're done." He walked away, still whistling, leaving the two alone, Holly still glaring at him.

Once he was out of earshot, Holly turned around to look down at Ana. "Do you like working for him?" she asked doubtfully.

To her surprise, Ana nodded. "Kind of. He pays me a lot, so that's good, I guess. He says I got lots of potential, too."

Holly forced herself to nod and smile. "Well, as long as he treats you right. But you shouldn't feel obligated to work for him if he mistreats you. I don't care whether he says he's _reformed_ or not, I still don't trust him." She was silent for a few moments, then stopped walking and got down on her knees Ana could look at her without straining. "So, you got a job. That's good. I'm sure your parents would be proud of you."

For the first time since their second meeting, Ana's eyes darkened and her smile faded. She looked away and shrugged uncertainly. "I hope so. I'm working really hard, just like Daddy always told me too."

Holly bit her lip. It really wasn't fair that Ana was being forced to do all of this, especially when she was so young. Life may not be fair, but did it have to be this cruel?

An image of Artemis staring blankly up at her, dead, flashed in front of her eyes. Yes, life really was this cruel.

Shuddering slightly, Holly pulled three gold coins out of her pocket and handed them to Ana. "Here."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Ana cried happily, wrapping her small hands around them and hugging her again. "Thank you so much!"

"They're for emergencies, Ana. In case Doodah doesn't pay you enough, or you really need the money- don't spend them right away, okay?"

She felt Ana nod against her shoulder. "I won't. I promise."

Holly finally pulled back, still keeping a firm grip on Ana's shoulders. She stared into her eyes, struggling to find the right thing to say. Another image of Artemis's body flashed in front of her, and suddenly, she started talking, speaking to both Ana and Artemis. "I know you can do this. Just hang on. I promise that I won't let you down. You've just got to hang on for me, okay? Can you do that?"

Ana nodded proudly. She could only hope Artemis's answer was the same.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you all for reviewing! In case you're wondering where I got the statements from the will from in this chapter, it's from the Gnomish at the bottom of The Last Guardian. I feature nearly the entire will in this chapter (I leave out the introduction). I translated it myself, then inputed punctuation marks.

Holly rubbed her eyes tiredly, continuing to record her report on everything that had happened the night Artemis had died. Trouble had let her use his office for some quiet, since LEP headquarters were currently a loud and confusing mess. Now, all she wanted to do was just finish the report. Her memories of that awful night were blurred and confusing, and she certainly didn't want to write anything about her friend's death.

"Captain Holly Short?"

Holly jumped at the sudden, unexpected voice and looked up to see an elf standing in the doorway of Trouble's office. He wore expensive clothes and a shiny- if insincere- smile and carried a briefcase in one hand. She had no idea who he was, but he looked like a bureaucrat, and if there was one thing she hated, it was bureaucrats.

"Yes, that's me. Why do you want to know?"

The elf patted his briefcase and sat across from her without waiting for an invitation. "I'm a lawyer. James Sinclair the Fifth. One of my clients left you something in their will- I've tried to get in contact with you three times already."

Holly sighed, reluctantly setting her file aside for later. "What's so urgent, Mr. Sinclair? And how are you already executing your clients' wills? They _just_ died, and it's not exactly anyone's first priority to inform a lawyer about the possible financial benefits to be reaped from this tragedy." Her voice was cold and her glare was even colder; she really didn't like lawyers. She'd been sued for police brutality more than once, almost always by over zealous attorneys that had nearly ruined her reputation.

"Well, death's a booming business, my friend. When my youngest and wealthiest- and most unique- client died, I couldn't help but notice. Not to mention that it was announced on live TV. He's practically a celebrity."

Holly felt sick at his description of the deceased. Sinclair wasn't describing who she thought he was, was he? He couldn't be...

The lawyer handed her several forms and gave her another insincere smile. "Artemis Fowl the Second. He paid me quite a handsome sum, so I was more than willing to be the first fairy lawyer to take on a human as a client. Now, just sign those forms, and you'll be entitled to your portion of his wealth."

Nausea gripped her, and she pushed the forms back without even glancing at them. "I'd rather not," she said icily, struggling to keep her expression blank. "Donate it to charity; I don't want it."

Sinclair shook his head doubtfully. "Honey, even a fraction of what he gave you would set you for life. I think you should take another look at those forms."

Resisting the urge to punch him, she accepted the forms and forced herself to scan them. It was a copy of Artemis's will. For someone with his wealth, it was rather short, simply listing off his family and friends and giving something special to each. Holly skipped down to her name to read what he had given her.

_To my friend Captain Holly Short of the Lower Elements Police, I leave the thirty seven solid gold bars that were the price of her release when I kidnapped her all those years ago. I know that I can never make up for that crime, but, hopefully, you can think of me as a friend when you do think of me._

Holly stared at the thin sheet of paper for several long moments, her hands beginning to shake. She reread the statement several times , sure she wasn't reading it right. Was Artemis actually asking, in his own indirect way, if she could consider him a friend after one bad act almost four years ago? Was Artemis actually having to _ask_ her if she saw him as a friend and offering her gold as a way of easing her pain after his death?

She curled her hand into a fist around her pen and scribbled her signature on all the forms, eager to get the lawyer out of her sight. "Here!" she snapped, thrusting them back at him before getting to her feet and herding him out of the office. He told her that the gold would be transferred to her bank account before she slammed the door in his face and fell against it.

"D'Arvit, Artemis!" she cried, slamming her fist against the door and throwing her head back. How could he do this? Had he actually thought that she would even be able to care about something as trivial as _gold_ after his death? She didn't want_ gold!_

"You stupid Mud Boy!" she hissed, storming back to the desk and ripping Artemis's will in half. "I don't want your gold!" Her hands were still shaking with fury and she continued to shred the will, determined to render it unreadable. "You idiot, how can you think that you can just give me gold and make everything all right? For a genius, you're pretty damn stupid!" At the last word, she slammed her hand down on the desk amid the torn pieces of paper, still trembling. She had never been this furious in her life.

Holly forced herself to remain still, allowing her tremors to cease as she stared at the ruined will. "Gods, Arty," she whispered, hanging her head and closing her eyes as tears began to form. She didn't care if he came back in six months or not, this was unacceptable. "No, I can't forgive you. Not because you once kidnapped me; because of this! How can you even..." she trailed off and shook her head, her hands forming fists.

"Artemis," she muttered, still actually shaking from anger, "when you come back, the first thing I'm going to do is slap you."

* * *

Foaly was busy working on plans to rebuild a shuttle when there was a knock on his already open door. He glanced up to see an elf who was certainly no LEP officer standing in the doorway with a smug smile and a briefcase. "You Foaly?"

Foaly sighed. He didn't particularly care what the elf had to say; he was very busy and doubted that the elf would have anything of interest to tell him. "Clearly. Do you want something, or did you just come here to ogle?"

"Not quite. I need to speak with you in private- it's important."

Foaly grimaced, actually considering sending him away before stepping out into the hallway and glaring at him. "What do you want?"

The elf shook his head. "I actually meant, could we speak in a private room, not in a hallway where everybody could overhear. Like, say, your famed 'Ops Booth', or-"

"I'm not letting the likes of you in my Ops Booth. Who knows what you'd touch. Just tell me what you want."

The elf shrugged. "Have it your way, then. I'm James Sinclair the Fifth, Artemis Fowl the Second's lawyer. I'm here to give you your copy of the will and get your signature."

"Oh, gods." Foaly shook his head and averted his gaze. Artemis's will? This was not something he had anticipated. He hadn't even known that Artemis had ever hired a fairy lawyer, nor did he have any idea what Artemis would leave him. "Here. Give me everything I need."

James pulled out a few sheets of paper, then paused, biting his lip nervously. "You're not going to react like the other girl did, are you? I thought she was going to kill me."

Foaly smirked. "Sounds like Holly. No, I'm not as violent as her. Now, just give me the papers!"

James handed them over and Foaly flipped through them until he found the copy of the will. It was very short, only one page long, and it didn't take long for Foaly to find his name.

_To the centaur Foaly, I leave the blueprints to an interstellar craft that is so advanced that it makes his spacecraft look like hot air balloons. I have hidden the designs inside his own system where he would never think to look for them. To find them, Foaly must open his own security file on me, blink eight times, and say the words, 'Artemis Fowl is smarter than I am'. If this does not work, then at least I will smile in the afterlife._

Foaly blinked, almost overcome by emotion before he forced them back with a hollow laugh. Then, suddenly, he laughed again, rereading the statement, this time with the knowledge that Artemis was alive in mind. Gods, he couldn't stop laughing. "Oh, gods. Mud Boy, you're kidding me. Oh, gods."_  
_

Sinclair eyed him oddly as he signed the forms, still shaking with laughter, then headed back into his lab. Ignoring several of his technicians calling him over, he headed straight for his Ops Booth- no way was he about to do this where anyone else could see. Once he had shut and locked the door behind him, he brought up Artemis Fowl's file with a few clicks, then paused.

He wasn't about to do this, was he? Surely, this was yet another one of Artemis's tricks.

Eventually, curiosity overcame him.

He blinked once.

_Come on. There's no way he was serious. I would've known if his research was this advanced._

Twice.

_Artemis will never live this down if I do it.  
_

Three times._  
_

_Why am I still doing it? This is a bad idea.  
_

Four times._  
_

_Gods, Mud Boy, I swear, I could pull the plug on your clone right now...  
_

Five times._  
_

_He's not serious. There are no blueprints. He's just doing this to humiliate me.  
_

Six times._  
_

_I could stop. I could stop right now and nobody would know.  
_

Seven times._  
_

"I hope this makes your ghost smile, Mud Boy."_  
_

Eight times.

Foaly hesitated. He could still walk out right now and nobody would ever know the difference. There probably weren't any blueprints, anyway. This was all Artemis's idea of a joke._  
_

He wasn't sure why he gritted his teeth, drew himself up to his full height, and finally announced, "Artemis Fowl is... smarter than I am."

Immediately, a new window popped up on the screen- and it wasn't any blueprints. It was a video of Artemis himself, and he was laughing. "And don't you forget it," the human chuckled, shaking his head at him. "It's nice to see you from beyond the grave, Foaly. As I'm sure you have already guessed, there are no blueprints. I could make only minor improvements on your designs and decided that they wouldn't be impressive enough to display here. If you still want them, you'll have to hack into to my computer yourself. I've left a few presents for you in my system, that is, if you're up to the challenge."

Foaly glowered at the video and Artemis continued to laugh. "I wish I were alive to see your expression right now. Since I'm not, I hope to see you in the afterlife someday. Assuming there is one, of course." Artemis picked up a glass of wine off screen and raised it up with a smug smirk. "To seeing you in the afterlife, hopefully after you live a good many, many more years." Artemis drank a sip and winked, still shaking slightly with laughter. "Forgive me for being slightly giddy. I don't hold my alcohol well and making this video for you is already quite enjoyable." So saying, he chuckled again, his smile broadening.

"If you're watching this, then that means Opal Koboi killed me, yet you fairies still managed to stop her plans for world domination. To that, I say, congratulations. I wish I were alive to see it now. However, instead, I must bid you adieu." Artemis, his cheeks slightly pink from laughter now, took another sip of wine and smirked. Then he paused, his voice edging on serious as he set his drink aside and gave him a look that wasn't condescending or amused. "Foaly, look after Holly for me, will you?"

Foaly smiled and nodded, and Artemis let the calm moment pass and began to laugh again. "As always, my good centaur. I dearly hope the words 'Artemis Fowl is smarter than I am' will forever haunt your dreams." Then, still laughing, he shut off the video.

Foaly shook his head and laughed himself. For a moment, he was almost overcome with emotion, then he forced it back for another time. Seeing Artemis as jolly as he had been in the video was rare, and while it seemed to be a final insult from beyond the grave, it only further emboldened Foaly to get the clone ready as fast as possible.

* * *

Trouble glared down at the little dwarf, who was currently grandstanding on a desk. Mulch Diggums may have been an asset to the LEP, but he could still be endlessly annoying and arrogant. At the current moment, he was bragging to anyone who would listen that he had saved LEP's bum flap by riding a troll and had been granted amnesty for all past crimes. Trouble was starting to wish he hadn't given his office to Holly for her to write up her report, because Mulch was quickly becoming insufferable.

"Dwarf, if you don't stop-"

"Mulch Diggums? Is that you?"

Mulch finally paused, turning to look at the speaker- an elf that had previously identified himself as a lawyer to Trouble, saying that he needed to speak with Holly. "James!" Mulch exclaimed fondly. "What are you doing down here? I didn't call you! For once, I'm not even under arrest by these-"

"Watch it, dwarf," Trouble warned.

James smiled and began pulling forms out of his briefcase. "It's good I caught you here; you saved me the trouble of hunting all over town for you." When Mulch frowned, James handed him the papers and answered his unasked question. "I'm not just a criminal defense lawyer; I'm also the only fairy lawyer that will service the Mud People. I'm Artemis Fowl the Second's attorney, and you were mentioned in his will."

"His- his what?" Mulch exclaimed, coughing slightly. "His will?"

His lawyer nodded. "Yes. I think you'll be quite happy."

Mulch frowned, not even glancing at the papers handed to him. "Wait, what are you talking about? His will? Since when is he dead?"

This time, it was Trouble who answered. "Haven't you heard by now? Fowl's last move against Opal was a suicide mission. Opal got him, and he got her."

Mulch shook his head, remaining in shock for several moments before swearing. "D'Arvit! The number of times I had to risk my bum flap to save him and his friends, and he just goes off and dies on me like that?"

His lawyer shrugged. "That's how it is. His funeral's Friday, on the surface, I think. I'm actually headed up that way soon to talk with his family. Very sad, very sad."

He shook his head again before looking down and signing his name, then beginning to read the will. He skimmed through the short list of names until he found his own.

_To the dwarf Mulch Diggums, I leave the refrigerated warehouse in London Docklands that is stocked with enough frozen chicken to satisfy even his appetite for several decades._

Mulch's eyes widened, and he said a quick prayer of thanks to the Mud Boy before he looked at the LEP commander. "You know, Trouble, it's very nice for you to give me amnesty and all, but I-" _  
_

And he was out the door before he'd even finished his sentence, eager to reach London and see the warehouse for himself.

* * *

Butler had his suspicions about the tiny, eccentric lawyer who was sitting at the dining table in Fowl Manor and passing out forms to all gathered here. It was clear his sister and Angeline did as well, and when the man pulled a ridiculously large hat over his ears and mentioned a former client, Mulch Diggums, there was no doubt in his mind that this was a fairy.

He wasn't surprised, really. It was common for Fowls to make out their wills at young ages, as they were never too far down on the hit lists of very dangerous organizations, and of course Artemis would have hired a fairy lawyer rather than a human one. Butler wouldn't be surprised if he had left something to Holly, and that wouldn't work out very well if it was a human who was responsible for executing his estate.

The lawyer seemed slightly too cheerful, though, for someone here to talk about a dead heir. Butler really didn't like it and, even if he was fond of most of the fairy folk, he wouldn't have an issue with squeezing the cheerful little man in his fist until he popped.

"My client left something to each and every one of you, including his younger twin brothers. Where are they?"

Mr. Fowl shook his head and spoke, his voice hoarse, his miserable eyes downcast. "They're minors and can't sign the forms. I'll sign them for them."

James Sinclair chuckled lightly and winked mischievously. "They may be unable to sign them in your courts, sir, but in mine, I assure you, it is quite legal. Even if it's not, I'm sure their species will be more cause for concern than their age."

"What are you-"

Angeline interrupted quickly, wiping her eyes. "Artemis, he's right. Would you mind going to get the twins for me?"

Artemis Sr frowned, but in the days since his son's death, he had often lacked the energy to argue. He got tiredly to his feet and left, his head bowed. The moment he was out of earshot, Angeline's eyes darkened, and she focused on the lawyer.

"You're a fairy, aren't you?" she asked, straight-faced. James blanched, and he self-consciously pulled his hat lower over his ears and struggled to laugh it off. Angeline did not appear fazed in the slightest. "I know about my son's ventures with you people. Why are you really here?"

James frowned, and he raised his hands, waving her off. "Mrs. Fowl, I can assure you, I have no ulterior motive. I'm even providing my services to you for free- your son paid me quite a lot to ensure this. I really _am _here to execute Mr. Fowl's estate."

Angeline still appeared suspicious, but did not have the time to ask him more questions, because, at that moment, Artemis Sr returned with the twins. Myles stood in a chair to reach the table while Beckett remained in Artemis's grip. "Here," he said, still very pale and unable to meet the lawyer's eyes. "These are his brothers. Can we please get on with this?"

"Of course." James stood and passed out copies of the will with a smile. Butler felt the urge to snap his neck again.

Juliet reached out and accepted her copy, quickly reading the single sheet of paper until she reached her name.

_To Juliet Butler, who has protected my brothers so faithfully, I leave my sound system, which is based on gel speaker technology and which should make even her collection of modern music sound reasonably nonoffensive. I also leave to Juliet the three sports cars and a lifetime subscription to the wrestling channel._

Juliet's eyes widened, and the paper shook as she slowly lowered it back to the table. Artemis's gifts to her were beyond generous, and she felt almost sick accepting them. While she didn't remember being possessed, she did know what her brother had told her after, and she had reviewed the security tapes. She had tried to kill Butler and Artemis. If it wasn't for her, they probably could have reached Opal in time and Artemis would still be alive. It was her fault that her big brother was such an emotional wreck right now, it was her fault that his parents were so destroyed, and it was her fault that Myles and Beckett would grow up without an older brother. It was _her_ fault. She couldn't accept this._  
_

Butler paused before looking down to the sheet, not wanting to read it for himself. Artemis was still alive, he knew that for sure, and even reading his will would feel almost like a betrayal. Even more than that, though, he didn't want to read that paper, the evidence of his failure. Artemis was supposed to outlive him. That was simply a given. Regardless of the extremely dangerous situations Artemis had managed to get himself involved in, Butler was still expected to keep him alive, even if it meant dying for him. Graduating from Madame Ko's academy didn't mean that he was just physically ready to be a bodyguard, it meant he was mentally prepared to accept that, if need be, he would die for the principal. Artemis dying before him represented the ultimate failure.

Butler still read the will anyway, his internal turmoil hidden behind a stoic facade.

_My faithful bodyguard, Butler, is, of course, entitled to his generous severance package and is under no obligation to stay on, but it would be greatly appreciated if he renewed his contract and remained in the employ of the Fowl family. Apart from his pension, I wish Butler to become the legal owner of the apartments in which he has lived since I was born and the dojo where he tried to teach me to fight._

_Key word being _tried, Butler thought sadly. A_nd I may be faithful, but I also failed._ He didn't deserve to remain in the employ of the Fowl family, as Artemis said he wished for, but he would. Because he did still believe that Artemis was alive and didn't intend to be gallivanting across the world when his charge returned. He would be waiting for him at Fowl Manor, no matter how long it took._  
_

Artemis Sr, rather than reading what his son had left him, instead began to softly read to Beckett what Artemis Jr had left his younger brother. It was unbearable to say the words, but it would be even harder to read what his son had left for his father. "For my brother Beckett, I have purchased a lifetime's supply of slime, so he can coat himself in grunge as often as he pleases. I also wish Beckett to have the ant farm, provided he promises not to eat any of the ants."

Beckett may not fully have fully understood everything that was going on, but he could still sense the dark and somber air that hung in the room. He could still hear his father's voice cracked several times and how his face was now buried in his hands. He was beginning to realize that, when his mother had shakily told him that Artemis was 'in a better place now', she really meant that sad, unreachable place where all the adults go and don't return, leaving behind people who cry for their memory. At first, he had expected Artemis to come back. But he hadn't. Was he really gone? Was he really gone forever?

James Sinclair took him from his father's arm, showing him where to sign on the forms.

Myles glanced up and listened to what his twin brother had received before returning his attention to the will. He wasn't quite sure how his older brother had died; everyone was treating him like a child and changed topic as soon as they saw him drawing near. What he did know was that his older brother was dead, and contrary to what his parents believed, he did understand what that meant, and the grief was crushing.

_I wish my brother Myles to inherit my laboratory and all its equipment, with access to the special project's room to be granted on his eighth birthday, when he will be mature enough to deal with other dimensions, aliens, and time travel._

Myles was unable to hold back a small smile. Artemis had always stubbornly refused him access to his special project's room, saying that, when he was old enough, Artemis would give him a tour himself. Now, that would never happen._  
_

Once Artemis Sr had regained his composure, he forced himself to look back down at the will and read what his son had left him._  
_

_To my father, I leave the three hundred million dollars in bonds that are hidden, believe it or not, under my own bed- the last spot anyone would think to look and possibly the most booby trapped place on earth. Butler will know how to disengage the security measures._

Three hundred million dollars? Artemis had to wonder how on earth his son gotten hold of that much money- it certainly wasn't part of the Fowl fortune- but then decided that it didn't matter. Money wouldn't change the fact that his son was dead. Ten years ago, he could have read the will and said, 'that's my boy,' and been endlessly proud that his son, barely eighteen- and he looked even younger- had amassed so much wealth.

Now, he would give up everything just to have him back._  
_

Angeline hesitated, holding the document in her hands. Artemis wasn't the son she had ever imagined she would have. When he was still very young and the family was still intact, she had had high hopes for him, especially when his genius had been discovered. After her husband had disappeared, he had shown unimaginable strength- even more than she had. He had gotten himself involved with a species that wasn't even supposed to exist and changed so much, so quickly. Her son that was now dead couldn't even be compared with the one she'd practically abandoned at barely ten years old. And it wasn't fair that he had finally been happy... and _this_ had to happen.

Tears fell silently down her face as she read.

_To my darling mother, I leave my stock's portfolio, including my shares in ethical funds and registered charities, which I know she will manage with her usual moral determination, and I also bequeath to her the department store on New York's Fifth Avenue, which I had planned to give to her on her birthday._

Angeline almost broke right then and there. She held it together long enough to sign the forms before jumping to her feet and leaving the room, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe._  
_

Juliet was next to leave. She pushed her chair back and hurried away, all her training under Madame Ko not enough for her to keep herself together. Butler followed after her, leaving the fairy lawyer alone with Artemis Sr and the only two sons he had left.

"Juliet," Butler called, hurrying after his little sister. "Juliet, wait!"

Juliet didn't stop. She didn't even look back at him, determined to leave without speaking with anyone. Butler easily caught up with her, gently grabbing her by the elbow and turning her around to face him.

She glared defiantly up at him. "What do you want?"

"Juliet... what's wrong? What did Artemis leave you?"

Throwing her hands up in the air, Juliet began to pace around the room, shaking her head and fighting back her emotions. "Too much," she spat bitterly. "The fact that he left me anything at all is more than I deserve, but what he gave me? I wouldn't have deserved that even if I_ hadn't _killed him!"

Butler sighed. "Juliet, I told you, _you didn't kill him_. Opal did. The Berserkers did. Not you."

"No! I could have fought back against the spirit possessing me. If Myles could do it, so could I! Myles is only four, for god's sakes; I'm twenty two and I was trained just as you were! I heard about how you resisted that witch's _mesmer_ when she told you to kill Artemis! If you were able to do it, then I should have, too!"

"Juliet, no! Being _mesmerized _is very different than possession; you didn't have the option of fighting that spirit off, you-"

Juliet ripped her hand out of Butler's and gave him a scathing glare, effectively silencing him. "Myles did. Myles broke through. I should have been able to. If I had, then you would have gotten to Opal in time to stop her. Artemis _wouldn't be dead_." She paused, then shook her head and gave a broken smile, muttering to herself, "Madame Ko was right. Just because I can fight doesn't mean I'd make a good bodyguard. As it turns out, I would have made a pretty sucky one myself."

Butler reached out to her again, trying to stop her from blaming herself as much as he blamed himself. He couldn't very well convince her, though, that Artemis's death wasn't her fault when he didn't even believe he was dead.

Juliet wouldn't hear it. "Butler, no. You won't listen to me when I tell you that it wasn't your fault, that you were unconscious and had no chance of stopping him. I'm not going to listen to you when you tell me that it's not my fault that I wasn't as strong as a _four year old_ and that it's just _fine_ that I wasn't unable to throw off that spirit. Artemis is dead, and nothing you tell me will change that fact. I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree about whose fault it is."

This time, when Juliet left, he did not call after her.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you all for reviewing! And, a slight warning- it's beginning to look as if I'm going to have to self-study an AP course AGAIN this year- AP Calc BC. So I will have less time for writing, but I'm still working on this, and it's going to stay as my first priority until it's complete. Enjoy!

Holly walked slowly across Fowl Estate, her hands in her pockets, her gaze scanning the field for any sign of humans. It was the fifth day since Artemis's death, and travel to the surface had finally been restored, if only for LEP officers to perform the Ritual or to attempt retrievals at fairies captured by humans. Artemis's lawyer had only made it up here earlier through a bribe and a favor.

She was here under the premise that she was performing the Ritual when, in reality, she was here to speak with Butler. She wanted to see how the man was doing, though she suspected it wasn't well. She felt awful and she knew that Artemis wasn't really dead… she couldn't image how Butler was handling the situation.

Holly caught sight of a human exiting Fowl Manor. From this distance, all she could tell was that it was a human female, so she began to shield and continued her trek to the mansion. Under normal circumstances, she should shield and either hide or take a different path that didn't take her so close to a human- but she just didn't care today. If a human saw her, so what? She had more important things on her mind.

As she got closer to the manor, however, she recognized the woman slowly making her way across the field. It was Artemis's mother.

Holly was on the verge of allowing herself to become visible, then stopped. She could already hear the hatred and accusation in Angeline Fowl's voice. _Your fault, Holly, your fault! It was your eye that killed him! Your negligence! Your incompetence! You let him go in there alone and kill himself! How could you?_

So she remained invisible. Holly simply walked towards the manor, masquerading as nothing but a blurry patch of air, the guilt turning her stomach into a hard knot that hurt so much she could barely breathe. It was almost funny; one would think, after almost a week of this unbearable guilt, that things would get easier. But they weren't. Everything was only getting worse.

Angeline suddenly stopped walking, her brown eyes narrowing as she stared right at Holly. Holly fidgeted, biting her lip and hoping his mother would simply think it was nothing and continue walking. _What I would give for one of Foaly's special suits right now._

A moment passed in silence, Angeline still staring at her in suspicion, then the human smiled bitterly and shook her head. "I know you're there, fairy. Stop shielding."

Holly waited a moment longer, then sighed and gave up. She stopped vibrating and appeared in the visible spectrum, her eyes clouded with shame. "Sorry, Mrs. Fowl. It's just me."

"Holly." Angeline's voice was hoarse and cracked, the sound that bespoke of a grief-stricken mother, one who had just lost everything. Holly lowered her eyes, waiting for the accusation that she had let her son die.

Instead, there was nothing but kindness.

"I've been expecting you. I know you and… and him are close. I…" Angeline became choked with emotion and tried to continue, but her face crumpled with a sob and she shook her head, unable to speak.

Holly averted her gaze, allowing her a moment to regain her composure. "I'm sorry. About everything. Artemis, he… he didn't deserve this."

His mother nodded in agreement, clasping her hands behind her back, her gaze still downcast. Holly saw a tear trickle down her cheek and the truth nearly burst from her right then and there. She wanted to look up at the distraught human and tell her that Artemis was alive. She wanted to tell her that, in just six months, Artemis would be back and better than ever; that Artemis would never give up this easily.

Instead, an image of his dead, staring eyes flashed in her mind, choking the words down her throat. Science be dammed, Holly couldn't say that she honestly believed without a doubt that his plan would work. Foaly had told her himself that nothing was certain; in all likelihood, Artemis would be gone long before they got the clone to the surface. She couldn't open her mouth and give his mother hope when she, herself, still half-believed that he was dead and wasn't coming back.

"Holly… I think that you should know that we're having his… his… his f-funeral in two days. I… if you want to come, you're more than… more than welcome to." Tears rolled down Angeline's cheeks and Holly stared up at her in sadness, her own mismatched eyes glistening. "I think he would want you to be there. He spoke so highly of you, Holly. He really cared about you."

Holly nearly broke. Her eyes filled with water and several tears spilled over as she shook, her heart nearly shattering. "Of course I'll be there. Just tell me when and where."

Angeline raised a shaking hand and pointed to a low hill that Holly recognized. It was often the background of the video calls between her and Artemis, ones that they had used to have at least once every week when they spoke about anything and everything. She missed them.

"There," Angeline said. "Butler said he spent a lot of his time there… it's in two days at noon. It'll just be the family and Butler and Juliet, so you won't have to shield. I'll make up something to tell his father."

"I'll be there," Holly promised. "Again, I'm very sorry. I should have been there to stop this from happening."

Angeline shook her head. "No. Don't say that. Artemis always gets his way, no matter what. This isn't anybody's fault but that insane pixie's."

Holly shrugged weakly, unable to speak. It was strange- she was nearly twice as old as Angeline Fowl, and yet, standing here, she suddenly felt like a ten year old again, apologizing to her mother for calling her out of her meeting and not being able to heal her broken wrist herself. Her mother had healed her wrist and told her that it wasn't her fault and that it was okay.

Except now, there was more than a broken wrist that she couldn't heal, the tragedy far more horrifying than a stinging pain that could be taken care of by a few sparks. Even if Artemis, by some miracle, did come back to life, it would never erase all the suffering his family was going through. Even if she spoke up now and told Angeline that there was still a chance of her son returning, the truth of the matter was that Artemis was dead. She had killed him through her own negligence and her fairy eye. No words would erase that.

"Mrs. Fowl, I actually came here to speak with Butler. My world is just as destroyed as yours, and he has friends underground that I'm sure he'll be glad to know survived."

"Of course," Angeline murmured, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand. "He's at his dojo. He's been there for two days and won't speak with anyone, not even his own sister... he's refusing to believe that Artemis is de... gone. Go ahead and speak with him if you want."

Holly nodded, beginning to shield once more. Angeline blinked once and the fairy was gone, replaced by a slight blur and nothing more. Shaking her head, the human smiled sadly and started on her way again, then jumped when a voice issued out of the nothingness. "Mrs. Fowl, your son was the most amazing man I have ever known." Several short, hitching breaths. "I'm sorry." And then the blur disappeared.

Holly walked around the corner, managing to stifle her sobs until she was well out of earshot. Then she sagged against the house, violent, powerful cries erupting from her. She became visible once more, lacking even the small amount of control and strength it took to shield.

It was all too much. How on earth was she supposed to handle this for six whole months when she couldn't even handle it for a week? "Gods forbid Artemis doesn't pull this off," she whispered between cries. "I won't be anything then."

The last four years of her life- gods, it seemed like such a small period of time- had changed her so much. An outside observer would say Artemis was the one who had changed, but everyone involved had as well. Holly had never before trusted someone as implicitly as she had Artemis, and certainly not a human. She'd formed friendships with people, of course, but never been as close to someone as she was now. As she was with him. It didn't seem like they should make a good pair; a human child with a heart as cold and unyielding as ice and the fairy captain he'd kidnapped. But somewhere along the road they had become friends, and now Holly found that she couldn't live without him.

Everything was so inherently different now. What was she going to do if Artemis's plan didn't work? Just go back underground and work to rebuild the Haven like she had never met him? She couldn't. _He was always a part of me,_ she thought, touching her human eye. They had traveled through time together, Holly bringing him back from the brink of death time and time again and Artemis helping her to save her people and his. In the weeks after returning from Hybras, they had been the only one the other could talk to of how the world had turned by three years without them. How, to everyone else, Holly and Artemis had been friends for seven years instead of four.

"I told him I'd return the favor one day," Holly mumbled, thinking back to their short 'time' spent in Limbo. She'd died and he had brought her back to life. Well, now she was returning the favor- she just had to hold on to the hope that this clone would work. She couldn't handle the idea of Artemis being lost forever. So many years, lost, years that he could've lived and cherished…

Shaking it off, Holly forced herself to her feet and silenced her emotions. Artemis wasn't dead yet, and she wasn't going to think like that until he was.

She began to shield once more, vanishing and walking on down the path. Thankfully, she ran into no other humans, so she was able to calm herself down. It didn't help that she knew she would have to appear as a grieving friend to Butler, a grieving friend who believed there was no chance of Artemis ever coming back.

Holly walked along the path, invisible, taking her time getting to Butler's dojo. She looked around the ruins of Fowl Manor and shook her head. The place looked like a war zone. Even though five days had passed, the entire estate was still a wreck- not that that surprised her. Without technology, they had no means of cleaning the estate, and with a dead son, she doubted his parents even had the motivation to.

Being here was painful… almost too painful. It was full of too many memories of Artemis, and the fact that it was possible that that was all she could ever have of him now- memories- made it hurt even worse. "Gods, please, Artemis. Don't you dare let go."

When Holly finally stepped inside Butler's dojo, she was still invisible. Nevertheless, Butler twitched as soon as she entered, opening his eyes and raising his head to stare right at her. Over the years, he had seen fairies shield many times and recognized the signs immediately.

"Holly? Is that you?"

Holly slipped into the visible realm as a way of answering, walking closer to him. "Gods, Butler," she whispered. "You look awful."

It was true. He was slumped over, head resting on his hands, dark circles under his eyes and a purple bruise on his head, permanently rid of hair, courtesy of Opal. It looked like all the energy had been sucked out of him, leaving nothing behind but the broken, empty shell of a man. She could see the guilt in his eyes, the same guilt that weighed just as heavily- if not more- on her.

Butler gave her a slight nod. "I know. So do you, Holly."

Holly walked forward and sat down next to him, drawing her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on them. "Mrs. Fowl said I could find you back here. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to talk with you until now- there was no network and travel to the surface was suspended until today. But, I just thought that you should know that our friends underground are all alive."

He let out a deep sigh, still without looking at her, and smiled without real happiness. "Good. I'm glad."

There was an awkward silence, Holly not knowing what to say and Butler not seeming interested in saying anything more. Finally, Holly stood on her tiptoes, trying to get a good look at the bruise on his head, but he was still taller than her, even sitting down. "That bruise looks awful," she said finally. "I can give you a little magic. Fix you right up."

"Don't. It looks worse than it is. Keep your magic. I'm sure there are others who need it more than me."

"Butler…" Holly trailed off, shaking her head uncertainly. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't know what else to-"

"What's his plan, Holly?" Butler turned to look at her for the first time since she'd arrived, his gaze urgent and piercing into hers. He flinched when he met her eyes, just like all of Artemis's friends did when they looked at her now and saw him looking back. "What's Artemis's plan? I know he has a backup plan."

Holly shook her head, beginning to pace around the dojo. Butler was more intuitive than a lot of people gave him credit for and wasn't likely to believe anything that she said, but she couldn't tell him Artemis's back up plan. These next six months were going to be unbearable for her; she wouldn't make them unbearable for him, too. It would be better for Butler to believe that there was no back up plan, not until this clone was ready.

"Butler, look at me. There is no back up plan. There is no anything. You _saw _him. He's gone."

Butler glared at her. In his eyes, she saw nothing but stubborn denial. "How can you give up on him so easily?" he accused. "He's _never_ given up on you! You know that Artemis wouldn't just walk in there without a way out! He _always_ has a back up plan! And, yes, I speak in the present tense because he. Is. Alive."

Holly shook her head back and forth, fighting the urge to tell the truth, struggling not to tell him that she would _never_ give up on Artemis; what kind of a fool did he take her for? But she couldn't say anything; she had to remain silent, keeping her expression blank. It would take more than she had for her to put up the show of someone whose friend was gone, gone for good, so she simply stood there like a statue, letting Butler get out his emotions.

"Artemis is alive, Holly, and I _know_ he has a some sort of plan. I don't know why you're refusing to admit it and I don't care what you say, Artemis is alive, and I'm not going to give up on him."

Holly was straining to shout, '_Neither am I!,_' but couldn't. She couldn't tell him the truth. At a loss for what to say, finally, she settled for what Foaly had told her in Police Plaza, before they knew Artemis's plan. "Butler, our friend is gone. Maybe we need to let him go."

Butler's response was exactly like hers had been. He pushed her away, his glare growing even darker, his massive hands forming fists. "Let him go, Holly? He didn't let go of me when I was shot by Jon Spiro's men. I'm only alive because of him. I will never _let him go_, and you shouldn't either."

Holly lowered her head, biting down so hard on her lip that a drop of blood appeared, only to to be sucked back in by a spark of magic. The two remained silent for several minutes, Holly trying to think of what to say before realizing that nothing she said would help him. No words could ease this pain. She finally walked up to him, raising a hand to heal the bruise on his head.

"Butler, will you let me heal you?" The bodyguard made no response, so she rested her hand tenderly on his head and whispered, "Heal." A few sparks rushed from her to him, the discoloration slowly fading away into skin. She wished she could heal his emotional pain that easily, too, but would have to settle for this. Forcing herself to smile and lie through her teeth once again, Holly turned and walked towards the door before looking over her shoulder at him.

"Butler, I have to get back underground. Things are still very busy and I… well, you don't care about that. I'm coming back in two days for his funeral."

"You know, his parents couldn't stop crying when they saw the body," he said abruptly.

Holly stopped herself from shielding, walking back from the doorway to stand in front of him. Butler wasn't looking at her, his eyes focused at some distant point over her shoulder.

"They couldn't believe what was happening. They couldn't believe he was gone. When I... when I took him back to the house... Beckett kept asking why he wouldn't wake up. Myles understood what was happening, though... I don't think he's said a word since. His mother hasn't stopped crying and his father, he just sits in Artemis's study." When Butler looked back at Holly, his eyes were red. "_That's_ how I know he isn't dead, Holly. Artemis would never leave them... leave _us_ behind like this. Before he met you, he would have come back for himself, because he was afraid of death ever since his father disappeared and wouldn't let it happen to him. But now..." Butler shook his head unhappily, his eyes glazing over as moisture appeared in their dark depths. "You brought back his family, Holly. You were his first friend. You have _no idea_ what you did for him. After everything we've been through together... he'd never leave us behind like this. I know he wouldn't."

Butler's speech had left her too choked up to say a single word. He was right. Artemis would never leave them behind like this. _You see, Arty, _she thought_, you see why you have to hold on? You see why you have to come back? I won't let __you die on us. I will _not_ let you die. _

Holly faded into invisibility so he wouldn't see her start to cry. She didn't think she could say anything, not without her breaking down and telling him everything, so she said nothing. She just turned and ran out of his dojo, feeling even worse than before.

Not at all eager to return to the smoky underground realm filled with death and despair, Holly took her time walking through Fowl Estate. She allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts, ruminating on her guilt and sorrow and pain until the sight in front of her stopped her in her tracks.

About twenty feet away from her was the tower of the Berserker Gate. Where Artemis had lost his life… and now she knew that his ghost could be hovering around here just waiting for a clone to bring him back.

Suddenly, the urge to run forward and speak with him was nearly unbearable. She paused, looking around urgently, and when she saw there were no humans in sight, she dropped her shield. This was more important than some silly quarrel between humans and fairies, but she didn't want to be seen and interrogated by his father.

Holly hesitantly stepped forward onto the grassy hill. It was odd that it looked untouched, after everything that had happened on it such a short while ago.

She looked around, searching for Artemis's ghost. There was no sign of anything unusual- even though she really wasn't sure what she was looking for. What, was she going to turn around and see a transparent Artemis floating behind her?

The only difference between now and when she had last stood here was the absence of Artemis's body. Butler had carried it inside after his parents had finally returned home and saw his body. That was good, she supposed, because she never wanted to have to look at his dead body again.

Holly cleared her throat, taking another step forward to stand where he had collapsed. "Artemis," she finally murmured, turning in a slow circle, searching, searching, searching for any sign of her friend. "Artemis, it's me. Holly. I don't know if you can hear me… Foaly says you probably can't… but I wanted you to know that we're trying. We followed your trail and understand what you want us to do. Foaly's working on that clone. You just need to hang on for a little while longer. Six months, that's all. You can't give up on us, Artemis."

Sitting cross-legged in the dirt, Holly gazed forlornly at the ground, struggling to find the right words to say. This was almost like speaking with Nopal. She wanted to be reassuring and comforting and promise that everything was going to be okay, but how could she be sure he was even listening? How could she be sure he was even aware of anything going on in this world?

In the end, she decided it didn't matter. What harm could it do? If her being here helped Artemis, then good, if it didn't change anything, well, at least she didn't hurt anyone.

"Artemis, your family is devastated. When they saw you lying there, they couldn't stop crying. Beckett keeps asking why you won't wake up and Myles is practically catatonic. When I told Foaly what happened, I wasn't there, but I bet he almost started crying himself. Butler's refusing to speak with anyone, not even his own sister, and is adamant that you're alive, yet he doesn't even know about the clone… you've got so many people you left behind who care about you, Artemis. You've got to hang on; just give us enough time to get your clone ready. We're working as fast as we can. Don't leave us."

She paused, folding her hands and struggling to think of something to say to make Artemis understand how he just _couldn't_ give up. She wanted to make him realize how much he was already missed and how much she was counting on him to come back. Before she knew it, the words were spilling out of her mouth, confessing things she didn't even know she felt.

"Arty, when I kissed you last year- well, I'm sure you'd prefer to think of it as nine years ago- and then found out the truth, I was hurt and just speaking rashly. I want you to know that I don't mean any of the things I said or called you- I was practically a teenager, I wasn't thinking straight, and... I'm really sorry. It seems so stupid, now that I think back on it. If you hang on, I promise that I'll kiss you again."

Holly laughed bitterly and looked up at the sky. "Oh, who am I kidding? Trying to entice Artemis Fowl to do anything with a kiss? I should know that will never work… I just want you back, Artemis. I hope you can hear me. I'm sure you'd think this is pretty stupid… talking to empty air in hope that a ghost will hear me… well, sorry, Artemis, but I don't care if you think it's stupid. Just please, _please_ hang on. Not just for me. For all of us. There are so many people that you've left behind who care about you. I know that you don't think you're worthy of all this love and affection from your friends and family, but let me tell you something; you are, Artemis. You are worth it. And you better hold on and come back to us."

A warm breeze started up, ruffling her hair. It blew harder and Holly raised her head hopefully. "Artemis?" she asked, the word almost like a prayer. "Is that you?"

The wind blew even harder and she started to smile. "Artemis!" she called, jumping to her feet and whirling around, overjoyed, before the wind began to die down, eventually leaving nothing but silence and stillness in its wake. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, practically falling back into a sitting position, tracing meaningless patterns in the dirt. "Never mind," she whispered in Gnomish.

Holly remained there for a while, too miserable to say anything else. Finally, she had regained enough control of her emotions to whisper, "I'm sorry. I don't even know what I was expecting." Holly slowly raised her head, only to see Artemis's father approaching from a ways off. He could already see her; shielding would do nothing but arouse his suspicions. Standing quickly, she shook out her hair over her ears and closed her eyes. "Artemis, your father is coming. I have to go. I… just…"

Holly struggled for words as emotion overcame her. She hadn't wanted the end to this one-sided conversation to come so quickly and suddenly. She swallowed a sob and forced out, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This shouldn't have happened like this. I just wanted you to know that we're trying. Don't you _dare_ give up on us, Artemis."

She spun on her heel and walked away, rubbing away the one tear that was trickling down her cheek. She wanted to stay for longer; it was painful but oddly cathartic to speak with Artemis like that, whether he could actually hear her or not. There were so many conversations she had never had with him and kept replaying that entire night in her mind. Surely, there must have been _something_ she could have done to stop this from happening!

"Excuse me?"

Holly turned around, shifting self-consciously when she saw Artemis's father standing behind her. She wished for a hat to cover her ears and sunglasses for her mismatched eyes. "Yes?" she asked, trying to remain calm. He had more important things to worry about than her.

The man blinked, staring into her eyes, stunned. Holly resisted the urge to cover her human eye with her hand and stood there innocently, hoping that he wouldn't realize he was staring right at his dead son's eye. She didn't want to use the _mesmer_ on him, but would if she had to.

Shaking his head, he rubbed his eyes and apologized. "Sorry. It's just… you remind me of someone."

Sighing in relief, she shrugged and smiled up at him. "It's okay. Can I help you?"

"I saw you, standing over where my… my son died. Did you know him? I don't remember seeing you around here before."

Holly hesitated. It would be easiest to lie and get out of here right now, but she couldn't bring herself to do that. The man's son was dead and he deserved to know the truth about how it happened. Even if she couldn't tell him what really happened, she wasn't going to be yet another person lying to him. "I'm not very noticeable. Most people don't see me. To answer your question, yes, I did know him. We were… very close."

"What's your name?"

"Holly."

He nodded, turning away from her to stare at the hill where Artemis had died. Holly remained silent. She could sense his grief and wanted to tell him that she was working to bring his son back to life, but had to heed Foaly's warning. If she told him the truth and they failed…

"Well, Holly. How did you know he was… we haven't told anyone yet. It only just happened, and…"

Holly saw his stoic expression crumple in sorrow and lowered her gaze, giving him a moment to regain his composure. "How I found out isn't important, Mr. Fowl. I… I… I just came to pay my respects. I'll miss him."

His father nodded without saying anything; Holly could tell he was near tears himself. She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked up at him with her mismatched eyes, forcing herself to smile. "You should be proud of him. Your son was a wonderful young man." Then she turned and began to walk away, fighting back the tears burning in her eyes. When she heard him began to walk away as well, she glanced over her shoulder, then decided she had one more thing to say.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't save him."

"What are you-"

Mr. Fowl stared at the empty field behind him in confusion. Where the girl had been, there was nothing but a slightly blurry patch of air. "Hello?" he asked. Nothing but silence answered him. Shaking his head, he turned back around and started off in the other direction, wondering if he had simply imagined the mysterious girl.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks you all for reviewing!

"I'm going back to the surface tomorrow."

Foaly glanced over at Holly, who was collapsed in a chair and staring up at the ceiling, her eyes barely open. He didn't know if she had gotten even eight hours of sleep in the past four days and wouldn't be surprised if she fell asleep right then and there. "Oh? Why is that?"

Holly shrugged slightly, allowing her eyes to close completely. "Mrs. Fowl met up with me and told me that Arte… _his_ funeral is in two days. I told her I would come, and… well, I suppose if this clone business doesn't work, then…"

She didn't have to finish her sentence. Foaly nodded, even though her eyes were closed and she couldn't see him, and glanced over his shoulder at the door to the basement. He was taking his first well-earned break since beginning this project four days ago. He was just as tired as Holly but, unlike her, had had the good sense to stay hydrated and had simply slapped on an adrenaline patch when he felt himself getting too tired. It wasn't really a good idea, and certainly not healthy in the long run, but he didn't have much of a choice.

"Holly, things are looking up. If I were anyone else, Artemis 2.0 wouldn't be alive. You're just lucky you've got the greatest technical genius under the earth at your disposal."

Holly's eyes opened just enough for her to look at him and she smirked. "Really, Foaly? Don't get a swelled head."

"Hey, I'm serious! You don't know how hard I've been working! My only contact with my wife has been text mesages, for gods' sakes. You _owe_ me."

The elfin captain shook her head, allowing her eyes to close once again. "Shut up, Foaly." Holly's less than eloquent reply was explained as her head slumped over her chest, the exhausted captain completely asleep. Foaly smiled at her, shaking his head, then began to reflect on the depressing news he had just learned.

Artemis's funeral. While Foaly was well aware that Artemis wasn't dead yet, he very well could be in six months. Going to his funeral now would almost be like a betrayal; like admitting that he didn't believe Artemis was going to come back to life. He was actually surprised Holly was going and was sure she wouldn't handle it well, but this was an impossible situation. Every option would have terrible downsides and only marginally better upsides.

If Holly was going, Foaly wanted to attend, as well. For Artemis, or perhaps for himself and for Holly. There was no way he would ever get above ground now, though, and that was even if he dared leave the clone for the hours it would take for a round surface trip.

This clone truly was a long shot, though- the funeral might be their last chance to say goodbye to Artemis. He knew Holly wasn't willing to see it that way, but it was the truth. It was beyond likely that they would end up watching the clone die in six months and Artemis's back up plan would have served no other purpose than to devastate them further. He'd told Holly this, and her response had been less than friendly.

_"No. Artemis wouldn't have come up with this plan if it wasn't going to work. He won't give up and let go, not when he knows that we're working to save him!"  
_

_"...He may not have a choice, Holly."_

Predictably, her response to that hadn't been friendly, either.

Sighing, Foaly got to his feet and and headed back to the basement, stopping to drape a blanket over Holly on the way. She didn't even respond, seemingly just falling into an even deeper sleep.

Foaly walked back into the lab to be greeted by the sight of his three assistants wrapping up their work, looking as if they were preparing to leave. "Where do you think you all are going?"

His nephew glanced up at him and gave a tired shrug. "Where do you think? We're going home. You said that we were taking a break."

"Oh, no. I said _I_ was taking a break. _You_ are staying here with the clone."

Their distraught and exhausted faces fell, all three of them beginning to complain at once. "Foaly!" his nephew protested. "Come on! We haven't been home in four days!"

"You think I'm going home? No, I'm going back to LEP. You three are staying here- we can't leave the clone alone, it could die. What, haven't any of you three ever grown a clone before?"

"Foaly, _you_ haven't grown a clone before."

Foaly rolled his eyes. "Alex, that's not important. What's important is that I have to get back to Police Plaza before the Commander realizes that I've been missing for almost four days. I'll try and get back before tonight, and if you need to contact me, it better be an emergency. I'm serious; the clone better be dying before you call me."

The three groaned loudly, morosely turning back to the lab and preparing for another hellish day of being cramped down in the basement working on an illegal experiment and not even being paid for it. Foaly did feel sorry for them, but he needed assistants for this project, regardless of how difficult or unrewarding the work was. "Thank you all," he said, turning to climb back up to the first floor. "I promise, once all this is done and everything is back to normal in the city, you'll all get nice raises."

"A raise isn't worth the risk of getting caught and spending several dozen years in prison."

"For the last time, Kensi- oh, never mind. Just keep working. I'll be back by tonight, and, don't worry. In a few weeks, the clone will have matured enough to be left behind in the care of an elf in med school. Just hold out into then."

"Wait, can we actually _get_ an elf in med school to come babysit the clone for us?"

Foaly moaned and stamped a hoof in frustration. "For gods' sakes, no! You three are insufferable! An elf in med school couldn't do anything but call time of death if something went wrong. Just… take care of the clone for me while I'm at work, okay? You can take a break tonight, when I get back." In the midst of the loud groan his words created, Foaly headed back upstairs, although he really wanted to do was eat something that hadn't been heated up in a microwave and sleep on something that hadn't been invented so cops could grab five minutes worth of sleep between shifts. He gave a heavy sigh, starting to think that Artemis's plan was almost more trouble than it was worth.

The moment Foaly stepped out into the street, there was a loud, shrill beep. He jumped, looking around in confusion before he realized what the sound must have been and yanked his cell phone out excitedly. Sure enough, instead of the usual 'No Service' message that he'd gotten ever since the crash, all he saw were five bars flashing up in the corner. Technicians had been working around the clock to get the network back up so worried fairies could contact their loved ones and at least see if they were alive, and it seemed that they had finally succeeding in bringing back the network. He eagerly began to enter his wife's number as every other fairy on the street urgently began calling their family members, but someone was already calling him.

"Hello, Caballine? Is this you?"

"No, it's Commander Kelp, and you had better not make that mistake again. Foaly, where the _hell_ are you?"

_Of course._ "I've been busy," he said vaguely, "and I'm on my way to Police Plaza right now."

"Foaly, you and three of the technicians have been gone for-"

"Yeah, I'll be there soon, bye," he muttered crossly before hanging up on him. _It's probably a good thing I'm not an official member of the LEP,_ he thought, because that remark could have cost him his job. Before he even had the chance to think on what he was going to say to Kelp, his phone rang again and, this time, he checked who was calling before he answered.

"Caballine!"

"Well, you're a busy centaur. I tried to call you the second I got service, but all I got was a message saying you were unavailable. Who were you talking to?"

"Sorry," he apologized. "Commander Kelp had the same idea you did. He's been wanting to know where I've been these past four days."

"I thought you were at Police Plaza?"

He laughed bitterly. "I wish. No, I've been tying up some loose ends across town. You have no _idea_ how much I wish I could come home right now; I don't think I've worked this hard in my entire life."

He heard Caballine laugh and could picture her smiling. "I don't why you're complaining. I've been stuck here, trying to salvage the mess your time stop turned our house into. Although, I suppose I should feel special. I'm important enough for the LEP to bring out a time-stop! That's something, right?"

"It sure is. The last time we used one of those, it was for the siege on Fowl Manor." Foaly stopped, his smile fading as his last sentence brought Artemis back into his mind. Clone or no clone, his friend was still dead, and it didn't matter that he was already working on bringing him back to life. Artemis was still dead.

There was a short silence before Caballine spoke again. "I saw your press release. Is it true, about Artemis? Is he really…"

Foaly closed his eyes, wishing he could say this face to face. Artemis and Caballine had met six months ago and spoken a few times since- they had appeared to like each other, even if Artemis had preferred to put it as 'enjoying the company of a mature female with an interesting profession that he could use for use his advantage.' That as close as Artemis came to admitting he liked someone, and his wife had found it hilarious at the time.

"It's true. He's dead." _For now._

"Oh. Wow. I… I guess I just thought that it was some kind of LEP cover-up- I didn't believe that he was actually…"

He sighed heavily. "I know. I didn't believe it at first, either. But it's true; he's really dead this time. His funeral's in two days."

"That's quick. Well, for us, I mean. I don't know about humans. Are you going to go?"

Foaly shrugged. "I don't see how I can. It's on the surface, of course, and I'm not authorized to go up there right now; no one but LEP is. And, besides, I'm a centaur, not an elf; I'd stick out like a sore thumb. Holly's going to be there, though."

"Ah. I'm not surprised- I know they are... ah, _were_ close. ...Well, I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you were okay, but we should probably hang up. I'm sure every fairy under the earth is trying to make a call right now and the network can only handle so much…"

He laughed, looking around the street. Caballine was right. Every fairy that wasn't already talking with someone was frantically dialing phone numbers over and over again, trying to get through to someone on an overloaded connection that couldn't handle any more calls. "You're right. Has my genius been rubbing off on you?"

"Hardly," she chuckled. "I'm not as oblivious to technology matters as you think… Foaly, I'm sorry about Artemis. I know you two were friends."

Could Caballine really not tell he was keeping something from her? Foaly had never been a good liar, and he hated lying to his wife, especially about something as serious as bringing a friend back to life. He swallowed the lump in his throat, more saddened than he thought he should be, and said, "Thank you. I'll come home when I can, but I don't know when I'll be able to get away… it could be several days or longer."

"I understand. Don't work yourself too hard."

The two exchanged good byes and hung up, leaving Foaly wondering why the mention of Artemis's death made him feel this awful. Artemis could still come back in six months.

But that didn't matter. Artemis was still dead now and, in six months, he could still be. It was slightly disheartening to think that all of the work he had put in the last four days and would put in the next six months could be all be for naught- nothing could guarantee this plan would work. They could take the clone up to the surface and wait for Artemis's spirit to come and end up watching the clone die. After everything they had been through over the years, it was depressing to realize that Artemis's chance at life was so small it was hardly even worth mentioning, much less doing all this work for.

So why bother? Why bother working for six whole months to build a clone that, in all likelihood, they would end up tossing into the ocean when it never came to life with Artemis's spirit?

Foaly's answer was simple. No matter how slim of a chance they had, they still had to try. Artemis had never said no to a plan just because of how difficult it would be or how unlikely it was to work. This wasn't the first time Foaly hadn't been sure about the human's plans, but this _was_ the first time that Artemis was unable to argue his point himself. Artemis had only been able to leave behind a mention of a chrysalis and a hint of DNA for them to work off of, and Foaly didn't think he would be able to live with himself if just gave up now.

He gave a low laugh and glanced up at the roof of the cavernous underground cave they had built the Haven in, normally not visible but now present like a dark and hulking shadow without the sim-sky to hide it. Seven years ago, he was just like almost every other fairy who disliked the humans who had driven them underground and overtaken the planet. Seven years ago, he would have _never_ gone to such lengths to save a human's life and would've called any fairy who did insane- and after his first encounter with Artemis, his dislike for humans had only grown.

After the siege of Fowl Manor, Foaly never would have guessed that he'd be willing- even eager- to work for six months harder than he'd ever worked in his life to bring _Artemis Fowl_ back to life.

* * *

_One day later..._

Holly pulled her black beret down further over her pointed ears and swallowed the lump in her throat, unable to look at the priest standing in front of the coffin. She focused, instead, on the small collection of humans around her, the few people above the surface who knew and loved Artemis enough to miss him now that he was gone.

Juliet stood beside her, the only representative of the Butler family. Butler himself was still in his dojo and had refused to come, still steadfastly believing that Artemis wasn't dead. His parents were also here, of course, with little Beckett in Angeline's arms and Myles standing at his father's feet. Myles, his eyes uncharacteristically bright and aware for someone of his age, were focused on the priest. Beckett, on the other hand, didn't seem to understand what exactly was going on, but was clearly subdued by the crushing grief that seemed to hover over the small gathering like a shroud with the sole purpose of suffocating them.

The priest was talking about Artemis's short life, waxing eloquent about things Holly didn't even known he had done. She had no idea how invested he was in the local children's charity, Ireland's fund to protect endangered animals, or an international organization for patients of mental disease. As the priest listed off different charities and organizations that Artemis had donated money to or even helped start, she began to realize how much of it was influenced by his past. He had known what it was like to be an orphan; no wonder he would try to help others in the same situation he had been in. He himself was responsible for the extinction of the silky sifaka lemeur and had suffered through his mother's depression for over a year. The charities he took interest in were really no surprise, but Holly found herself both surprised and saddened on how much Artemis had been through in just fifteen years.

The priest spoke about how Artemis had handled his father's disappearance like a mature adult, prompting Holly to hide a miserable smile. If they were being truthful and knew the entire story, then, perhaps, they would say the exact opposite. Artemis, in all of his genius, had still been just a twelve year old boy who wanted his parents back. While his actions may have been that of a conniving criminal mastermind, his motives had still been those of a child's. While Artemis had apologized time and time again for kidnapping her, Holly had grown to feel almost sorry for the boy he had been back then.

_"I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you."_

Artemis's last words to her before he left to carry out his last, most devastating plan flashed through her mind. In her current state, it was more than enough to break her resolve against tears.

_Why did you have to do this, Artemis?_

Holly shook as the priest spoke about Artemis as if he were nothing more than a charitable child genius. While that was certainly a nice title, it didn't even scratch the surface, and Artemis himself would probably be disappointed if that was all he would be remembered for. Holly could almost picture his smirk as he said, _Charitable? I doubt that. Any man with a few euros to spare and a guilty conscience to ease could earn that title._

"After spending three years in a coma as an unidentified teen, he returned home, with more strength and resilience to show than before. While most would have been beaten down by such an ordeal, he was not. Six months later, he even journeyed across Europe to a university to continue his studies after helping to diagnose his ill mother."

The priest continued on about what a tragic loss of life this way, but it was all Holly could do to not shake her head at the inaccuracy of it all. _Three years in a coma? As if. He saved an entire race of demons and is only remembered for waking up out of coma? _'Helping to diagnose his ill mother' did nothing to describe the desperate measures he had been willing to go to save her. He'd risked his own life more than once and all he would be remembered for was a sentence implying he spoke with her doctor and suggested a disease or two?

_And journeyed across Europe to a university? Why is that even worth mentioning? He was nearly driven insane with guilt over his past actions, and all that's said is that he went to school?_

All these truths and more burned in Holly's throat, and she wanted nothing more than to shout them out and stop this priest from making a mockery of Artemis's life. Instead, she remained silent, allowing tears to fall silently down her cheeks as she mourned the _real_ Artemis, not the young, innocent boy this priest was making him out to be.

Holly turned her head to the side slightly, staring out at the Berserker Gate. Was Artemis's ghost watching all of this? Was he watching his own funeral and wondering if Holly's presence meant she had already given up on him? She shook her head slightly, her mind rebelling at the very thought. She struggled to keep herself from screaming out the truth to his distraught family. She wanted to yell, _He's not dead!_ Being the only one present who knew this secret was hard and she hated seeing how devastated they all were when it wasn't the truth.

Telling them about the clone wouldn't make any of this easier for any of them, though. _She_ was devastated, torn between the knowledge that this could really be it for Artemis and the hope that he could hang on long enough for her to look into his eyes again.

She had learned one thing from going to this funeral. Artemis deserved to be remembered for his real accomplishments, not this silly list of charities and schools. His father should know the truth about his son's life, so that, if he didn't come back to life, at least his entire family would know what he had died for.

The ceremony was open casket, and everyone present went up to it to say their goodbyes. Holly found herself following after Juliet, her legs numb and her eyes glazed over. She wasn't ready to say _goodbye_ to him. He wasn't gone yet and even pretending that he was a betrayal.

She couldn't very well back out now, though, and, too soon, Holly found herself standing above the casket and staring down into her dead friend's face.

His mismatched eyes were closed, his suit, clean and new, no longer the bloodied one he'd been wearing when he died. He almost looked asleep. Now that she knew he wasn't actually dead, the sight of him like this was almost harder to look at it then it had when he had first collapsed. Keeping her head lowered, Holly raised her gaze to stare out at the Berserker Gate. Then, in Gnomish, she whispered, "Artemis, I know you're alive. If you can hear me and you're watching this, _this_ is what you need to hang on for. These people here love you, and there are more underground and there's Butler, too. So you had better not die on us. We'll carry out your plan; all you have to do is just hang on for six months. You have to do this."

His last words in the study flashed through her mind once again. _I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you._

"You're welcome," she said, almost inaudibly. "You're welcome, Artemis. Now, stay alive for me and you'll have returned the favor."

Then Holly retreated back to the gathering of humans, refusing to look back at the coffin. Rather than watch as he was buried, she averted her eyes and stared resolutely at the Berserker Gate. _Artemis Fowl is not dead,_ she repeated over and over again in her mind. _Artemis Fowl is not dead._

Nevertheless, as soon as possible, Holly hurried away from the grave as fast as she could.

She was still too choked up to speak, unable to stop picturing how awful it was to see Artemis's body in that coffin, struggling not to realize that, in six months, that could be all that was left of him. She may have just attended his funeral, but she wouldn't allow herself to entertain even the possibility that he was dead. Not now, when there was still a chance that Artemis would come back.

But, alive or not, Holly still believed in the realization that she'd reached before- that Artemis's father deserved to know the truth. There was hardly a worse time or place for him to learn that his son had been lying to him for seven years, but Holly couldn't help herself- this was one truth that she didn't want to keep from his family any longer.

So she trailed behind his parents on their way back to Fowl Manor. She pretended to be speaking with Juliet but, in reality, was just waiting for the chance to talk with Angeline alone. The woman was clearly devastated, but Holly didn't think Artemis Sr should have to continue believing the circle of lies about his son when he was dead.

They had almost reached the house when Angeline told her husband that she was going to go check on Butler. Artemis Sr took Beckett from her and continued into the house with Myles on his heels, leaving the women alone. It was then that Holly spoke up.

"Mrs. Fowl, I know this isn't the best time. But what have you told your husband about how Artemis… about how he died?"

The human glared down at her, her eyes red, tear tracks down her cheeks. "I lied. What do you think? He died for you and your people, but I can't tell him that." There was more than a hint of accusation in her eyes as she stared down at Holly, and she realized that Angeline was blaming her for being forced to lie to her husband. Holly couldn't find fault in that.

"I'm sorry. I know we've put you through a lot and there is no excuse for us forcing you to lie. But, after what's happened… don't you think his father deserves to know the truth?"

Angeline narrowed her tear-filled eyes, a touch of anger in her gaze now. "What he deserves? He _deserves_ to have known about you people this entire time! We _deserve_ our son back! Don't talk about what he _deserves_ and _don't_ tell me how to run my family!"

Holly lowered her gaze in shame and apologized once again. This did nothing to calm the fury in Angeline's eyes, and Holly didn't think had ever so seen such a mix of pure sadness and anger at once. She struggled to find something to say, anything to get make the human understand how sorry she was, but there was nothing for her to say. Finally, she simply apologized again and said, "I know I'm not in any position to say this, but I think that he should know. I'll take full responsibly for making you lie, and I'll even-"

"What kind of a person does this? I can't tell him now! We just buried our _son!_"

Holly fell silent. The uncertainty surrounding whether Artemis was alive and the implications of both possible outcomes weighed heavily on her, and the fact that she was lying to Angeline only made her feel even worse. She couldn't speak. She felt like there was a giant cotton ball in her throat, smothering all her words and telling her to leave things the way they were.

Angeline shook her head angrily, tears running freely down her cheeks and turning away from her. "What's wrong with you?" she asked coldly, her voice broken. "What kind of a person walks out of their friend's _funeral_ and can ask something like that? Or are fairies just that unfeeling?"

"Insult me. Not my race."

"Well, just what do you expect, Holly? After what you ask of me?"

Holly glanced back at the Berserker Gate, where she hoped Artemis was watching this. She wanted to tell Angeline that her son was still with them and, perhaps, ease her pain. That was nothing but an impossibility, though. Angeline would only be left as a nervous wreck for six months and, if this didn't work, Holly wouldn't be surprised if the depression that had visited her when her husband disappeared made another appearance- this time, a permanent one.

If, Gods forbid, this didn't work, she would never forgive herself if she put Artemis's mother through more pain. If she became depressed once again, Holly wasn't sure if even magic would bring her back this time. Artemis would surely hate her if she allowed that to happen.

So she forced the secret down her throat once again, instead focusing on the lies being told to Artemis's father rather than his mother. "I'm sorry. But… during the funeral… when the priest was talking about his life, didn't it make you angry that he wasn't being remembered for everything he's accomplished? And all the lies the priest was telling about his life- shouldn't his father know how he really died?"

Angeline struggled to answer, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her eyes as she glanced back at the house, where her husband waited. She opened her mouth several times, searching for an answer- when it was clear that Angeline really didn't know what to say, Juliet interceded.

"I think Holly's right, Mrs. Fowl. You should tell him. I can go down and talk to my brother while you talk to Mr. Fowl. I think it would be best for everyone."

"I can stay, if you want," Holly offered. "You'll need me, anyway. Artemis _mesmerized_ both of you when he came back from Hybras. You'll need someone with magic to undo the affects of that; otherwise, he won't remember what really happened when the two of us were in Limbo. The only reason you do is because of Opal's magic when she possessed you."

Angeline shuddered at the memory, turning around to stare back at the mansion. She remained silent for a long while, mulling the impossible situation over while Juliet and Holly watched. When she finally turned back to face them, her tears had run dry, but she was still the very picture of sadness and despair. "Fine," she said, her voice hoarse. "I'll tell him. Juliet, go talk to your brother. Try and convince him it's not his fault. Holly, with me."

Holly and Juliet parted ways, Holly telling the human to give her best wishes to Butler. Once she was gone, Holly followed after Angeline, thinking over what they would tell Artemis Sr. All she would have to do was reverse the affects of Artemis's_ mesmer_, something she doubted would be hard. After all, Artemis may be a genius, but he was still a human with no experience with magic; she was surprised he had even managed to pull off the _mesmer_ at all.

While that was all she was technically obligated to do, though, she wasn't going to just reverse the _mesmer_ and leave. If it weren't for his father, she and Artemis probably would have never even met. And this was more than just a job for her; she truly wanted to make this as painless as possible for the Fowl family. After all, this entire was situation was almost completely her fault. She owed it to this family to help Angeline tell her husband the truth.

"So, how hard will it be for you to stop this '_mesmer'_?" Angeline questioned. "Will it take you just a few minutes, or-"

"It's not hard. Artemis never told me his exact wording when he placed you under the _mesmer_, but I don't think he was particularly careful when he used it on you. It will be one of the more blunt _mesmers_ I've reversed."

Angeline glared at her. "My son is not blunt and was 'particularly careful' about everything. If you think otherwise, you clearly didn't know him very well."

Holly smiled at her. "Forgive me, but magic is my area of expertise, not Artemis's. Don't worry. Your husband will be fine and it won't take long at all."

The human simply ignored Holly the rest of the way back to the house. When Angeline led her inside, they quickly found Artemis Sr sitting alone at a table, his head in hands. Angeline gestured for Holly to stay back and walked forward alone. She sat next to him and laid a hand on his arm, struggling to speak through her own crushing grief to reveal the secret that had been kept from him for seven years. "Artemis, I know that you don't care about this right now. But just listen. This is important."

Artemis frowned, barely even raising his head to look at her. "What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, Angeline nodded at Holly and gestured for her husband to turn around to look at her. "Do your stuff, Holly."

Artemis narrowed his eyes when he saw her. "What are you doing here? Aren't you the girl I saw here a few days ago? How do you even know us?"

She gave a noncommittal shrug. "I hope to answer that question and more in the next few minutes." Holly took a deep breath and allowed magic to filter into her eyes and voice as she locked eyes with Artemis Sr. "Mr. Fowl, what really happened when your son disappeared three and a half years ago?"

"He was in a plane crash," he said slowly, the answers rolling robotically off his tongue. "He was in a coma for three years."

"Really? Is that _really_ what happened?"

He nodded weakly, his eyes bleary and unfocused. "Yes. That's what happened."

Holly smiled at him, easing him towards the truth. "Are you sure? Because that's not how I remember it. I remember him just vanishing into thin air. I remember Butler telling you all kinds of stories about _fairies._ And did your son always have eyes of two different colors?"

The human trembled slightly, in a daze, the affects of the year-old _mesmer_ struggling to keep the truth locked away. Holly pushed him further. "Don't you remember those things?"

He shook his head as if trying to clear it. "No. No, I don't."

"It sure seems like you do. Why didn't he look eighteen? Why was he still fifteen? Fairies, demons, time travel. Any of those words ringing a bell?"

He trembled slightly for a moment before his head fell to the side, the fight going out of him. "Yes. They do. Butler told me about them. I don't know why he never looked eighteen. I'm sorry."

With a grin, Holly leaned back and gave Angeline a small nod, who looked slightly dazed herself. It had been harder than she had expected, but one of the easier jobs she had ever done. "That's fine," she told him, the magic disappearing from her voice and leaving her gaze. She snapped her fingers in front of Artemis Sr several times, trying to draw him out of his haze. "Mr. Fowl. Mr. Fowl!"

The human blinked, staring at her as his gaze cleared. He coughed, stammering, "W-what just happened?"

Angeline waved her hand in front of his eyes, and he blinked again, looking at her in surprise. "Holly? What did you do?" she asked. "Is he okay?"

She nodded. "Oh, yes. He's just a little dazed."

"What are you two talking about?" Artemis Sr asked, shaking his head again and rubbing his eyes. "What happened?"

Holly stood and gestured for Angeline to come forward. The human glanced at her and rolled her eyes. "Take the hat off, Holly. I don't quite think your ears matter, at this point."

"I suppose you're right." Holly reached up and took the beret off, revealing her pointed ears. She shook her hair out and forced herself to smile up at the man who reminded her so much of his son. He had the same eyes, the same haircut, the same skin; he even wore the same style suit.

"Pointed ears," he said numbly. "Real or prosthetic?"

Holly laughed. His question made her think back to when Artemis Jr had asked her the exact same question after being mind-wiped. It made her both smile and want to cry at the same time. This could be as close to her friend as she ever got again. "Like father, like son," she said quietly. "They are real. Your son asked me that too, once."

"Are you a fairy? …I'm sorry. I don't even know why I asked that. Of course you're not a fairy. They're not real."

"I am a fairy. You asked because you remembered Butler telling you all about me. Remember me? I'm Captain Holly Short, Lower Elements Police."

He blinked, rubbing his eyes again, then looked to Angeline. "What's going on?" he asked again. "I don't understand. Angeline, why is this girl talking about fairies?"

Holly backed away as Angeline took over. "Everything Butler told us is true, Artemis. Fairies exist. Our son was a friend of theirs."

Angeline continued to try and convince him, but the man's logic and rationale was clearly rebelling against the existence of fairies. No matter what she said, he shook his head, stubbornly refusing to believe the evidence before him. Finally, Holly spoke up again.

"Mr. Fowl, if I'm _not_ real, how do you explain what your son did to you when he came back after being gone for three years? I know that you remember looking into his eyes and being powerless to resist. He was using magic, Mr. Fowl. I'm real. Fairies are real. Magic is real."

Artemis shook his head, getting to his feet and beginning to pace around the room on shaky legs, a hand over his mouth. He struggled to speak for several minutes, and when he finally came back to them, his complexion was ashen and he was shaking. "Let's just assume, for now, that I believe you. _Why_ tell me this? Why keep it secret from me for seven years, then tell me _now?_"

Holly looked at Angeline, but the human shook her head. She gestured for Holly to explain, instead. Sighing, she stood and walked closer to him, barely taller than his waist. She rested a hand on his arm and said, "We thought you deserved to know the truth. Your son has not been at a _university _for the past six months. He did not die in an explosion. I'm sorry that we didn't tell you this while he was still alive. You should have been able to hear this from him." _Maybe someday, you will._

Artemis Sr collapsed back into the chair, his legs giving out. He looked like he was about to pass out. Finally, in a trembling voice, he gasped, "What are you talking about?"

Once again, Angeline nodded at Holly. So she continued. "For the last six months, Artemis has been underground, where all the fairies live. He had developed a… disorder, one that criminal fairies get over guilt. I suppose the closet human equivalent would be a combination of OCD and PTSD- but I'm no expert. He was the first human ever to get the disease; but Artemis Fowl was the first to do a lot of things. We got him to agree to treatment, and he's cured." _When you speak to him again, you won't even be able to tell he ever had Atlantis Complex._

Now that she had to tell the man how his son had _really_ died, though, Holly's small smile faded. Whether he came back or not, she was sure that Artemis's death was still something that would weigh heavily on her for the rest of her life. "He had just been pronounced cured when technology crashed. We were actually involved with trying to stop that from happening, but we couldn't. We came back to the surface to try and stop the fairy responsible for your world falling apart to stop her from causing the extinction of your race. Artemis sacrificed everything to get close enough to her to succeed. …I'm sorry I couldn't stop him. I tried. It shouldn't have been him; it was supposed to be me. It was a fairy problem, not a human one. I should have been the one to die."

His father clearly didn't understand, and Holly paused before turning to the leave. "I'm sorry. He died for all of us- I just thought that you should know that. Also, your son was my closet friend. You should be proud of him. The People thank him for his sacrifice."

Then she left the brokenhearted family behind for them to cling to each other, still reeling from the loss of their son. Because, no matter what fantastical tales about fairies she told them, it wouldn't change the reality that their son was dead. Attending his funeral had merely strengthened her resolve to ensure that his plan would work. Holly was not going to allow the grief she had seen in his family today remain with them forever, and she wasn't about to let Artemis die. _Six months, Artemis,_ she thought. _Just hang on for six months._


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you all for reviewing! Yes... this chapter is less than stellar. Don't worry. Next one will be very good- well, I hope you think so. I do apologize for this one, though. Once I'm passing AP Physics (worst decision I ever made was taking that course), I'll have more time to write.

Holly walked down into the basement to see the now familiar scene of the team moving slowly around the lab, taking notes and occasionally adjusting one of the machines. She walked softly forward to Foaly, who seemed to be deliberately avoiding her gaze. "Hey, Foaly," she said when he nervously glanced away, his eyes trained on one of the monitors. "Foaly, how's the clone?"

"Oh, doing lovely. Not a single life-threatening thing wrong with it."

Holly frowned. "Foaly…"

"What?" The centaur shrugged innocently and turned his back on her, continuing to work. "As I said, not a single life-threatening problem."

"Foaly, what's going on?" Holly turned away from him to look at the clone- as Foaly had said it would, it looked like a catatonic baby Artemis. "The clone looks fine."

Foaly hesitated, then sighed, following her towards the clone. "I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later… it only looks fine because you're not looking at its feet."

"What?" Frowning, Holly followed his words and transferred her gaze to its feet. They looked fine… until she noticed an anomaly on the left one. "Foaly… what's that?"

"As I said, nothing serious. Just a sixth toe."

Holly's eyes widened. Sure enough, there were six toes on his left foot. "A sixth… a sixth what?"

Foaly nodded. "Don't worry. It's nothing to be concerned with. Humans are sometimes born naturally with extra fingers or toes. They're usually removed at birth but, even when they're not, it doesn't matter; the human still grows up perfectly healthy."

"But why does he have one? Was he born with a sixth toe and it was just removed?"

Foaly shook his head, avoiding her gaze. "No. I checked the hospital records; when he was born, he had ten fingers and ten toes."

Holly frowned when he didn't continue- clearly, she was missing something here. "So why does he have one now? I thought clones were supposed to be identical."

"Well… Alex? You care to explain what went wrong here?"

The elf glanced up at them then hurriedly hid his face behind a notebook. "Sorry, I'm busy. You know, I'm involved in-"

"Alex."

He groaned, then hesitantly lowered his notebook and walked closer to them. He was pale and shaking and seemed almost afraid of Holly. "Well, it was just a little mistake. A _small_ one. Anyone could make it-"

"Alex!"

"Okay, okay! I'll tell her!"

Holly had no idea what was going on and didn't like the anxiety in Alex's voice. The clone seemed perfectly fine; what could be this awful?

Alex sighed and began to explain. "Well, a few days ago, when Foaly was out, I had to give the clone another dose of medication. I was tired, and accidentally misread hydroxylamine as squalamine."

The way he spoke indicated that it was supposed to mean something to her. Holly remained silent for a moment, then groaned turned to Foaly. "You do know I have no idea what either of those drugs are? I don't think I've ever even heard of them before. What, is hy… droxy… what he said... a poison or something?"

"For a newborn clone? Yes."

"Foaly, I don't understand… Artemis looks fine."

The centaur grimaced. "Yeah, I know. You have no _idea_ how lucky we are that the sixth toe is the only abnormality so far. The drug we accidentally gave the clone is a mutagen."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Look, unlike the rest of you, I went to the police academy. I learned how to shoot, fly, and contain suspects. The curriculum didn't include a science course in growing an illegal clone. I have no idea what a mutagen is, what hydroxy… what that drug is, and I don't really have the patience for all these avoidance attics. Just explain what happened!"

Alex backed away from her while Foaly grimaced and glared at his assistant. "A mutagen is something that mutates, Holly. The drug Alex here gave Artemis is a drug that human scientists use to mutate DNA in fruit flies for experiments. It's grotesque, really; they make flies grow wings out of their heads. Artemis was only exposed for ten minutes and, so far, the sixth toe is the only new problem. And if nothing else goes wrong, then he'll be fine. There's still a distinct possibility, though, that a mutation it caused hasn't developed yet."

Holly rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on. "Slow down for a second. What exactly happened? If you _accidentally,_" here, she glared at Alex, "gave him a drug that mutates him, shouldn't he… I don't know… look more mutated?"

"Not necessarily. Alex caused a condition called isolated post-axial polydactlyism. In most cases, extra fingers or toes are the only physical or mental defects. But that's just one genetic condition he caused. I don't know what else the hydroxylamine did and finding out is going to be quite difficult. I have to isolate the clone's DNA, sequence the genome of the original and the clone's, compare the two, then use mediocre Mud People textbooks and websites to understand what the differences will cause. My machines could do it all for me if he were a fairy, but he's not, and they aren't made to read the human genetic code."

Holly had understood less than half of what he said and, truly, couldn't care less about the technical explanation. She finally shook her head, trying to clear it, and asked, "So, how long will all that mumbo jumbo take?"

He shrugged. "Been a while since anyone's done it by hand. Kensi's over there getting the DNA for me, then we'll run it through the machine, and-"

"Foaly!"

"Five hours, at best. Don't give me that look, Holly. Sequencing the human genome isn't exactly something anyone likes to do in their spare time, not even Artemis- because it's time consuming work that offers little to no reward, in most regards. Of course, if _someone_," he shot a glare at Alex, "hadn't made a mistake in the first place, we wouldn't have to do this."

Holly was getting rather aggravated with Foaly. He wasn't directly answering her questions and was probably aware of it; it was something he rather enjoyed doing, as it gave him more of an opportunity to talk the ears off his victims until they got what they needed. Unfortunately for him, she had no patience for this today. "Foaly, just _tell_ me. Is the clone going to be okay?"

Seeming to finally get the message, he met her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know. There's not a simple answer, Holly. That sixth toe could be the only defect. There could be other mutations that won't cause any problems. There could be mutations that I can do my best to reverse. There could be fatal mutations. I _don't know,_ and I don't have any percentages for you on whether or not the clone will be okay." At the despair in her eyes, he squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her. "I promise, I'll call you as soon as I know anything more. But you need to leave and get back to work. Trouble's going to get suspicious eventually."

When Foaly had went back to work, Holly paled and leaned over the chrysalis, gazing uncertainly down at the clone. It didn't look sick. It looked fine, albeit with an extra toe. But Foaly's words had worried her, whether she would admit it or not. If the clone died before they even got it to the surface, then Artemis was dead. This clone was his last chance… even the idea of it dying was intolerable.

She didn't know how, but she wasn't going to let that happen.

* * *

Three hours after Foaly had begun to run his tests on Artemis, Holly found herself wandering through the ruins of the city, searching for Doodah Day or Ana. They weren't at the refugee camp, at least, not that she had been able to find, and without anything else to do, she had decided to go searching for them. She had originally planned to watch Foaly work, but after ten minutes of staring at him meticulously watch a screen full of computer code, occasionally entering in a command or two, not even her concern for Artemis had been able to keep her by his side. As her shift at LEP didn't start for another four hours, she had found herself worrying about Ana. She hadn't heard anything more about her since seeing with her Doodah Day and wanted to know how things were going.

Unfortunately, accomplishing that was turning out to be rather difficult, as she had on idea where to even start looking. Holly was essentially wandering aimlessly throughout the streets, the depressing sight of her home in ruins doing nothing to raise her spirits.

"Oh, gods, it's her! It's Holly Short!"

Holly blinked. Had she heard right? She turned around to see an elf and a sprite behind her, both staring at her in shock and amazement. "Wow! It's really her!" The sprite gasped, only adding to her confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked when the two didn't continue, simply standing there and staring at her like she was some kind of a celebrity. It was unsettling at best.

"Is it really true? What you and Artemis Fowl did on the surface with the Mud Girl?"

"I... I... what?"

"You know, with the crazy Mud Girl who kidnapped you and No1? Is it true, how you tricked her with Artemis?"

Holly stared at them, aghast. Were they really asking her about the Minerva Paradizo incident- which occurred well over three years ago? She didn't even recognize them. How on earth did they know about that? The operation had been classified, and LEP wasn't exactly keen on advertising its run ins with humans, anyway. How had word gotten out about that?

Shaking her head, Holly shrugged, carefully neither confirming nor denying their eager questions. "Who told you that?"

The elf gestured wildly, still with a broad smile plastered all over his bright face, and exclaimed, "I heard it on the street! Everyone's talking about it! Is it true you and Doodah Day broke into her house and stole the demon back right under her nose?"

_Oh._ Now_ it all makes sense. _Holly grimaced, shaking her angrily and looking around the street for signs of the traitorous pixie. With LEP in shambles and with much better things to do than go after him, it seemed he was trying to get fame and street cred by spreading rumors about his short stint on the surface- and probably his most exciting tale, to date. "No," she replied to the two eager fairies, "no, it's not true. Let me guess, Doodah Day told you the story?"

"Aw, come on!" the sprite complained, pouting and not bothering to answer her question. "It _has_ to be true! It's so exciting! And what about you and Artemis escaping from _trolls _in the old amusement park? Is that true, too?"

Holly gasped. How in Frond's name did they know about _that?_ Doodah Day certainly hadn't been a part of _that_ little nightmare. "What are you talking about?!"

"You know, back when Opal Koboi escaped from that clinic! Gods, you and him- you're practically legends now!"

Scowling, Holly pushed her way through the excited fairies. Doodah Day and whoever he was talking with and spreading rumors with behind her back were about to get what was coming to them.

* * *

"All right, Ana, here's what you're going to do. Go ask that cop over there about whether or not the-"

"Hey! Doodah!"

Doodah Day turned around to face the speaker be met with a punch to the face.

Holly glowered down at the pixie now on the ground, holding a hand to his nose and grimacing in pain. "Hey!" he cried, scrambling back from her as she made to hit him again. "Hey! What are you doing?!"

"_Why_ is the entire city of Haven asking me about the Paradizo incident?!" she shouted, reaching down to grab him by his collar and yanking him to his feet. "I've been accosted by _seven_ different fairies in just the past _hour_ wanting to know if it's true or not! And unless Minerva spontaneously appeared down here and starting spreading rumors, the only person who could be responsible is _you!_"

Doodah Day escaped from her grasp and hurried back a few paces, making sure to keep well out of her reach. "Relax! I didn't do nothing! I just needed to drum up some business, that's all! I didn't spread any rumors!"

"Well they sure as hell got spread with or without your help- and I know you're behind it! What is that even supposed to mean- 'drum up some business'?! What does that have to do with what happened on the surface?!"

Ducking out from under her grip, Doodah continued to explain, actually hiding behind a completely confused and slightly frightened Ana at one point. "I needed to convince everybody I had connections! So I told them about you and Artemis and the whole mission on the surface- made me look good and people think LEP owes me a favor now!"

Holly lunged at him, pinning him up against the wall and holding him fast. "Oh, really, then? _Just_ about Paradizo? Then _why_ have I been asked three separate times about Artemis and I being hunted by trolls in the old amusement park?! What purpose did that story serve, huh?! And _how_ did you even know about it?!"

"Relax, relax! Calm down! Just let me explain!"

Holly glared at him, murder in her eyes, then shoved him violently away and crossed her arms, standing above him. "Fine. Start talking."

Sighing in relief- and not seeming to take the hint from her murderous glare- Doodah eagerly began to explain, although he did have the good sense to make sure he was several large steps back from her before he did so. "Mulch told me about it. You know, when we used to work together? And the people, they got interested and asked to hear more- and you know me, I'm work to please! So I told them! Gods, why are you so mad?!"

"Why am I so mad?! Doodah, all those people are asking me about Artemis! I'm not going to tolerate those ridiculous idiots treating me like I'm a D'Arviting _celebrity_ for the next six months!"

"Six months? Why six months?"

Holly froze at the confusion- albeit, still mingled with fear- in Doodah's expression. She forced herself to hide her anger and shook her head, carefully wiping her expression blank. "Nothing... nothing. That's not even the point."

The point was that she was angry- no, furious- that those people had asked about her and Artemis like they were some kind of celebrity couple. The questions she had been getting throughout her search for Doodah- gods, if anything tarnished his memory, it was people running around Haven with their heads filled with the lies Doodah had been telling them. Among the falsehoods had been a twisted version of events of what had happened that last night at Fowl Manor, that she had wrestled all the trolls at the Temple of Artemis to death singehandedly, and that Artemis had first kidnapped her because he had been in love with her. They were, in short, some of the most ridiculous things she had ever heard.

And she wasn't about to spend six months struggling to deal with the fact that Artemis could be die and, at the same time, fielding off questions of whether or not they had a been a _couple_- something she'd already been asked twice. It was simply too much to deal with all at once.

Holly was about to rip into Doodah again when her communicator ring buzzed. Actually growling in frustration, she furiously raised her hand to read the message.

_Just finished sequencing the genome. Sixth toe is the only mutation. The clone's fine. -Foaly_

With one last scathing glare at Doodah, she warned, "You just keep your mouth shut," before turning and storming away. She had more important things to deal with than him.


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you all for reviewing! I hope you all like this one; it's one of my personal favorites.

_Five months later..._

"Foaly? You said there was something I should see?"

The centaur glanced up at Holly, who was standing in the doorway to the basement, and nodded, beckoning her forward. "Yeah. Don't worry, it's not bad news. The clone's coming along well- I just thought you might like to see what it looks like. I did some calculations, and, if I'm right, it should be pretty familiar."

Holly had no idea what he was talking about, but walked forward anyway. She headed to the chrysalis and looked down into it, following Foaly's lead.

What she saw inside shocked her.

Underneath the plastic cover of the chrysalis lay a twelve year old Artemis Fowl. It was him _exactly_. The perfect picture of the boy who had kidnapped her and held her for ransom. He was the mirror image of the child who had outsmarted the entire LEP and that had nearly caused her to be beaten to death by a troll. The first time she had ever met the boy who had changed her life so much.

_I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you._

_This_ was that broken boy. But now, without his face darkened by the weight of his father's disappearance and his mother's depression, he truly looked like a child. Which, she supposed, this clone was. Technically, this wasn't even Artemis, it was just a soulless creature made to look like him.

But that knowledge couldn't overwhelm the powerful feelings of deja-vu she got from just looking at a twelve year old Artemis. "It's him, exactly," she whispered. "This is how old he was when this all started."

Foaly shrugged. "Almost. He's a few months older, but I doubt his own mother could tell the difference."

"His own mother hardly even recognized him at this age, Foaly."

Foaly sighed. "It's an expression, Holly. Well, considering it's a backstreet job, I'd say that it's close enough. Besides, you should be thanking of me that it looks this good. Did you know I've been cutting his hair twice almost every week?"

"Really? _You've_ been cutting his hair?"

He laughed sourly. "Me, Kensi, what's the difference? Come on, Holly. Would you really prefer that_ I_ cut his hair? It grows six months worth in four days. Kensi's the only girl on the team. I thought she might do a better job on it that I would."

Holly glared at him. "You saying that all women are supposed to beauticians, centaur?"

"Hey, hey, relax, Captain. Consider it a compliment to your gender. No offense intended." Foaly raised his hands in mock surrender and smiled at her before he went back to work on the clone. He stuck his hands in through the sterile gloves built into the side of the chrysalis and lifted the clone's eyelids. The dark blue emotionless orbs stared blankly up at the ceiling, dilating when Foaly shone a tiny flashlight into them. "That's good," he remarked. "Pupils responsive to stimuli." He wrote down his notes, then winked at Holly. "I should be a doctor. Think I'd get more respect at a hospital than I do at LEP?"

"I'd think that you'd be bored at a hospital. Face it, Foaly, you need the excitement I bring you. When would you ever get to involve yourself in time travel at a hospital?"

He grimaced. "I don't recall signing up for that when I was first asked to come and work at LEP. I distinctly remember the phrase 'you will assist in the technical aspects only' being used in the interview- no one ever said anything about me getting involved in all of this." He closed the clone's eyelids and recorded another note or two before he went back to his calculations. "If things continue going like this, he'll be ready in a month."

"Why can't we just take it up to the surface now? Looks like he's in good enough shape."

"Oh, gods, no. He may look good on the outside, but, on the inside, he's a whole mess. His pancreas is an immature little weasel, his liver's underdeveloped, his bone's are weaker than a little old lady's, his heart is-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Holly rested her hand on the top of the chrysalis, brushing her thumb over the plastic and staring down at the limp body of Artemis's clone. It seemed that the older it got, the more machines Foaly hooked it up to. There was a thick plastic tube stuck down its throat to keep it breathing and wires stuck to its head and chest, partially hidden by its hospital gown. There were multiple IV lines inserted into its wrist and shoulder, bringing nutrients and steroids and other medications into its bloodstream. Half of this equipment had probably been ripped off from humans; fairies had never needed such extensive medical machines as long as they had magic.

She couldn't touch his hand through the chrysalis, so she settled on running her thumb over the top of the plastic, looking down at the weak boy underneath the plastic. _Hang in there, Artemis. One more month. You'll be alive soon. I promise._

* * *

_The clone's body lay, unmoving, in the dirt. Foaly was kneeling over it, his hand over the thing's heart. The sky was dark, no moon or stars visible, no light to shine over the Berserker Gate. Holly crouched in the sparse grass, watching and waiting for the clone to come to life. But nothing was happening. The clone wasn't moving._

_Finally, Foaly shook his head and stood, looking over at her. "No heartbeat. It's dead."_

_Holly nearly choked. "Wh- what?" she stammered, crawling forward towards the body. "What do you mean, 'it's dead'? Where's Artemis?!" _

_Foaly just shrugged, beginning to walk away. "He's not coming. He's dead." _

_"What? No!" Holly threw herself across the grass and shook the clone's dead body, trying to wake him up. "Artemis! Arty! Can't you hear me? _Artemis!_" _

_"Holly, come on. Let's get back to Haven. I have an expensive dinner planned with my wife," he said, his voice cold and unfeeling. "Don't want all the money I put into it to go to waste."_

_Holly, so shocked by his words, was positive she had just misheard him. "No! We have to wake him up! Artemis, come on! Come back to us, Artemis! Foaly, help me!" _

_"Why? He's gone. He's just a Mud Boy, anyway, Holly. You shouldn't care so much." _

_Holly stared up at him, stunned. "What… Foaly, how can you even talk like that? After what he's done for us? 'Just a Mud Boy'?"_

_Foaly shrugged, unashamed. "He is, Holly. He was just a stupid Mud Boy playing around when it came to fairy matters. It's good he's dead. Saves the LEP the money of doing another mind wipe."_

_"W… what?"_

_"Come on. He's gone. Good riddance. Let's get back underground." _

_Holly's eyes widened; somehow, she was still able to be shocked. "But… but… what about the clone? We can't just leave him here!"_

_"Leave it there. It'll be a good scare for that big Mud Man," he cackled before turning his back and trotting away, leaving Artemis and Holly alone. _

_The very picture of indifference, Foaly's attitude stunned Holly. She looked down at the dead body and found herself crying. He couldn't be dead. How could Foaly not even care? He just _couldn't_ be dead."Artemis? Arty, come on. Come on! I know you're here. I know you're alive! Wake up! Come on!" She started to sob, shaking him harder and calling for him to wake up. "Please. You'll never be just a Mud Boy, not to me! Come on! Wake up! Please, Artemis! You have to be alive!"_

_"But I'm not."_

_Holly jumped, whirling around to stare at the source of the voice. Behind her was a transparent Artemis, his eyes the same blue and gold of the original boy, not the clone. He stepped forward, his gaze icy and distant. "I _am_ dead, Holly," he said, the accusation and hatred in his voice clear. "I am dead."_

_"What?" she choked, stumbling to her feet, staring at him in horror. "Artemis? Is that you?"_

_"Have you forgotten me so quickly, Captain Short? I'm not surprised. I suppose that's the only way you could cope with the guilt."_

_"What are you talking about?" she gasped, reaching out to touch him. Her hand passed straight through him. _

_He shrugged with a grim smile. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Remember this?" he asked, tapping the skin under his right eye. A bruise slowly appeared, and he smirked, his transparent body seemingly growing more solid. "This is where you hit me."_

_Tears started to form in her eyes as she reached out, trying to touch him again. "I'm sorry. You'd kidnapped me and I was escaping. You can't blame me for that."_

_Artemis kept speaking as if she hadn't even said anything. "And remember this?" he asked, raising his head to rub the side of his head. A trickle of blood began to trail out of his ear. "This is where we were on that train in the Arctic and it bounced on the tracks. I got a concussion, remember?"_

_Holly raised her hand, showing him the scar. "Yeah, and I lost a finger."_

_Once again, Artemis ignored her. "And this?" He hit the side of his head, this time, smiling in such a way he appeared to be an imbecile. "After what I do for you, you and your friends mind wipe me. I could've lost a few brain cells in that procedure." He grinned, the bruise still under his eye, the blood still coming out of his ear._

_"And I'm sure you remember this, Holly," he chuckled coldly, raising his shirt to reveal his ribs. Before her very eyes, they began to bruise, his pale skin turning black and purple. He coughed, a globule of blood emerging from his throat and hitting her in the face. "This is when I had to jump out of a third story hotel room to save myself from Opal. Where were you then, Holly?"_

_"I… I was coming. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I healed you, right? You were fine!"_

_"You were coming? What kind of excuse is that? You weren't there and I could have died. Remember this?" He raised his hand and his index and middle finger switched places, a product of the time tunnel. "Did you know that I had to use my magic to stop the bones from setting wrong, Holly? I had to have Butler break those two fingers so I could use magic to set them correctly." As he spoke, both his fingers broke at once. He let his hand fall, though the fingers remained broken, his ribs remained crushed, the blood continued to drip steadily from his ear, and the bruise under his eye only grew darker. _

_"You never told me. I would've fixed them for you, Arty. All you had to do was say something-"_

_"You wouldn't have fixed it. I'm just a Mud Boy, after all. Why waste magic on a Mud Boy?"_

_"Artemis, I swear-"_

_"Remember this?" His left arm broke, white bone punching through the skin, his hair suddenly matted with blood, the crimson liquid staining his suit and skin. "Remember the gorilla, Holly?"_

_"I'm sorry," she sobbed. Artemis didn't look fazed by her tears or her apology, and his gaze remained cold and distant. "I'm so sorry."_

_He turned his head to the side, tapping the side of his neck with one of his broken fingers. A burn mark materialized there, and his nose suddenly started to bleed. "Remember when you shot me when I was showing you my Ice Cube, Holly?"_

_"You were sick. You didn't know what was going on. I had to shoot you to get you out of the way or you would have been killed-"_

_"And here?" Another burn mark came into being, right next to the previous one. "You shot me when we were running out of oxygen on the shuttle?"_

_"We would have died otherwise!" _

_"And this?" He held up four fingers and suddenly, the maimed Artemis turned into the injured Orion. She didn't know how she could tell the difference before he opened his mouth._

_"Fair maiden, don't you wish to live with me in my bivouac? I shall keep you safe and love you forevermore." He smiled sweetly before abruptly, it was Artemis again, the hate in his eyes returning. _

_"Atlantis Complex. A disease fairies contract because of guilt. Ever wondered why I fell so ill, so soon after you went after me for lying to you to take me back in time to save Mother?"  
_

_Holly's hand passed through his again, even as she cried out, "I'm sorry, Artemis! I didn't know at the time that you were-"  
_

_"Would you like to speak with Butler? Julius? My bodyguard has quite a list of injuries attributed to your kind as well. And, Julius… I forget, wasn't it you who fired the shot that killed him?" Artemis's cold smile broadened when Holly gasped, and his bloodied appearance worsened. "And that's not even mentioning all the emotional damage. I wasn't here when my brothers were born. My family thought I was dead. My mother almost died, Butler almost died, my father almost died- I almost died. I got Atlantis Complex because of you and your magic. Would you like for me to go on, Captain?"_

_Holly shook her head weakly, reaching out to grab his hand in vain. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's my fault, I know." _

_Artemis nodded coldly as he walked around her to stand above his clone's body. "And do you remember this, Holly?" Artemis pointed down at the body, who changed appearance, injuries appearing, blood staining its hospital gown, which darkened and twisted until it became a ripped, bloody suit. One of its staring eyes flashed to become gold and, before she knew it, it was no clone; this was the same body that had collapsed on the hill six months ago. _

_"Remember this, Captain?"_

_Holly sobbed, unable to answer. Artemis forced her to look at him._

_"How did this happen? How did I die? Where are you excuses this time, Captain?!"_

_Holly allowed tears to spill down her cheeks as she started to shake. "I'm so sorry. I tried to stop you. It should have been me, but you drugged me."_

_"So it's my fault that I'm dead?"_

_"No, Artemis, no-"_

_"I drugged you? I thought you were the Captain. Shouldn't you have seen it coming?"_

_Holly struggled for an answer, but there was none. She _should _have seen it coming. Artemis was dead and it was her fault. "I'm so sorry. I know. It's my fault, I know."_

_Artemis gave a cold chuckle. "Of course I wouldn't come back. Why would I want to live again? Look at me, Holly. Look at what's happened to me because of your people, because of_ you_." _

_And Holly did look at him. She looked at his mutilated ghost's body, at the broken bones, at the bruises, at the blood. He looked like death walking. Artemis's icy gaze did not waver as he spoke again, his words piercing her heart like Abbott's sword had. Somehow, his hatred was able to hurt her much worse than that fatal injury had._

_"Why would I want to come back after what you've put me through? Of course I'd rather stay dead then come back to the likes of _you_ again. You let me die! You let this happen!"_

_Holly could do nothing but cry harder as she stared at him in horror. She had never known Artemis felt all these things, but, now that she thought about it, of course he did. She had murdered him. Why would he want to come back to his murderer? _

_"Captain, when you tried to drug me, you told me not to hate you forever. But I do. I am dead because of you. Why wouldn't I hate you?"_

_"Artemis…" she pleaded. "I'm so sorry. This never should have happened. You shouldn't have died."_

_"But I am dead, Holly, and it's because of you. Don't you wish you had done something?" he taunted. "Don't you wish you had saved me?"_

_"Yes," she sobbed. "Yes."_

_"What about me?" _

_Holly blinked and Vinyaya was there, standing beside Artemis. Her eyes held the same blame and accusation as the human's. "Remember when I died, Captain? You wish you had saved me?"_

_"And me?" _

_On Artemis's other side appeared Julius. He, too, gazed at her with hate. "You wish you had saved me, Captain?"  
_

_"And me?"_

_Holly's mother appeared in the night. Anger and hate and accusation were written in her expression, plain as the day was long. "What did you do while I died, Holly? Nothing?" _

_Holly sobbed harder, her mismatched eyes glittering with tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, all of you. I failed you. I shouldn't have let you die. I should have saved you."_

_Vinyaya, Julius, and her mother disappeared, leaving just her and the bloodied Artemis. "Well, too bad, Captain. You didn't." And then the ghost collapsed, falling back into the his own dead body. _

_Holly fell to her knees beside him, shaking him harder before she collapsed over him and began crying into his chest. "I'm so sorry! Artemis, come back! I'm so sorry! Artemis! _Artemis!_"_

Holly awoke to the sound of a loud, continuous alarm. She gasped, choking in air as she sat bolt upright, tears burning in her eyes. It took her a moment to realize the cacophony in the room and she coughed, looking around wildly to see Foaly, Alex, Kensi, and Mayne all gathered around the chrysalis, speaking frantically to each other over the alarming beeps of the machines. The sight nearly stopped her heart.

"Artemis!" she cried, jumping to her feet and running forward. She practically threw Kensi aside to get a look at the clone, but she couldn't tell what was wrong; the thing was still tethered to life by machines and still hardly even looked alive. "Artemis!" she cried again.

"Holly, get back!" Foaly shouted, elbowing her out of the way and talking to the others, using a blur of medical language that she didn't recognize.

What she _did_ recognize was the defibrillator that Alex yanked over from across the room.

"Artemis! _No!_" she shouted, her limbs freezing and her strength deserting her. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't do anything but stand and watch in horror as Mayne ripped back the plastic cover and Foaly began to charge up the paddles. Holly would've screamed if she had the air- but she could do nothing but watch as Foaly shocked the clone. The limp body jerked above the chrysalis, and the horrid alarm of the machines did not cease, nor did the team gathered around him relax.

"Nothing!" Alex exclaimed, pulling his hand back from Artemis's neck and gesturing Foaly forward. "Again!"

Foaly shocked the clone again, shouting, "Not again! Don't you _dare_ do this to us again, Mud Boy!" Little twelve year old Artemis was lifted out of the chrysalis once more. It was one of the worst things she had ever seen. Alex reached forward and felt for his pulse again. Holly waited, watching, her heart in her throat.

"Still nothing! Go again, Foaly!" Alex said, drawing his hand back mere seconds before Foaly shocked Artemis again. Time seemed to stand still as Alex's hand shot out to feel for his pulse again. Nobody moved an inch for several slow, agonizing moments, and then-

"Foaly, wait! I got something!"

Holly gasped, finally able to breathe again, actually collapsing back against the wall. She leaned back, light headed, sinking to the floor as she panted for breath. She dimly heard Alex say, "He's got a pulse. It's definitely there."

"Good," she heard Foaly say. "Come on. Get to work. We've got to figure out what caused this and what effects it had."

Holly frowned, realizing the urgency and panic in his voice had barely lessened. She took a deep breath and slowly stood, only able to manage the feat by telling herself that Artemis was still alive. Artemis was alive and nothing was going to change that. "Foaly, what happened?!" she gasped, stumbling forward, practically falling against the chrysalis.

Foaly shook his head tersely, already examining a monitor intently and taking precise notes. He didn't even look at her as he answered, "I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

Holly looked down at the clone in a panic. It looked fine- or, at least, no worse than it had looked these pat few months. The thing was still barely alive, but at least it _was_ alive. Why was Foaly so worried?

When she asked him, the centaur continued to work and still wouldn't spare her a glance. "Holly, if everything was okay with the clone, its heart wouldn't stop. We have to correct the problem as soon as possible or it could flatline again, this time, for good."

Even as Holly blanched, Foaly moved past her to another machine. "Alex! Mayne! You two see what damage the heart attack caused. Kensi, work with me. We've got to find out what caused this in the first place." Foaly still didn't even look at her, and Holly reached out desperately, grabbing him by the arm.

"Foaly!" she gasped. "He… he is going to be okay, right?"

Foaly paused, then pulled out of her grip and went to work. "I don't know."


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you all for reviewing!

Foaly and his team worked for three hours straight. They spoke little, and when they did, Holly had no idea what they were saying. Their words were punctuated with terms she didn't recognize and words that she would only find in a medical dictionary, and Holly was able to do nothing but sit slumped in the corner, her shaking hands clenched into fists as she waited for news. _Any_ news was good news, at this point.

Finally, Foaly beckoned her over with a grim expression. "Come on, Holly. You should hear all of this."

Relieved, Holly got to her feet and stumbled closer to them. She found herself standing beside the chrysalis and stroking the plastic cover once again, actually aching to reach through and physically touch the clone.

Foaly began to speak first. "Alex, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that your mistake with the hydroxylamine did not cause this. It turns out that I made a miscalculation and relied too heavily on Opal's previous work. Humans' bodies progress differently than pixies' and while I tried to make up for that difference, it seems that I missed this small factor. I had the thing on numerous different medications to speed up its development… apparently, I grew its external body too fast and its internal organs couldn't keep up. His heart wasn't big enough or strong enough to manage pump blood through a body of his size. Kensi and I put him on an alternate medication, one that should speed up the growth of his organs more than his bones."

Holly braced herself against the chrysalis, and it was still only half over. She turned to Alex and Mayne, breathing hard through her mouth, struggling to stop herself from becoming dizzy. Alex spoke up first.

"It's only been two hours, so there could be damage that hasn't even surfaced yet. And, of course, until the thing wakes up with its new soul, we won't know everything. But there seems to be no damage from the heart attack. His pulse has remained steady, if slow, for the past two hours and he's still responsive to stimuli. If there is brain damage, we haven't seen any sign of it."

Looking down at the clone, Holly couldn't help but suppress a small smile as she brushed her thumb over the plastic. She knew it wasn't really her friend in there, but she couldn't help but think, _Of course there isn't. It's Artemis!_

Foaly sighed, shaking his head and resting his hand on the chrysalis. He said nothing for a few moments, then finally announced, "Good. Everybody, get back to work. Keep an eye on his pulse. The medication we switched him to should prevent any further heart attacks, but I'm not certain about anything at this point."

The three nodded and dispersed around the room, leaving Foaly and Holly standing beside the chrysalis. The centaur was quiet for a moment, then took her by the elbow and pulled her aside. "Holly, we've got a problem."

"Just one?"

He shrugged. "Well, a _new_ problem. The medication we switched the clone to is very hard to synthesize; with my current equipment, it could take over two weeks to get more. The clone needs to be on it for at least another week."

Holly paused, glancing down at the clone in confusion before looking back to Foaly. "So? Why don't you just keep the clone on this new drug for the week? How is this a problem?"

"Because I don't have enough of it stored away to do that. I have enough for a day's worth, tops, then I'll be out. But there's no way around it; I need a week's supply of it- and I don't need to bother looking. There won't be any underground. It's a rare drug; few places would have it in storage, most in Atlantis. The one lab in Haven that had it exploded. _But_, I do have a solution."

Holly narrowed her eyes. She leaned forward, frowning when she saw Foaly chuckle nervously. "This is going to be dangerous and illegal, isn't it?"

"_Technically_, no. There are no laws against trading with humans. And, hopefully, the person I have in mind won't be dangerous. To you, that is."

"Oh, gods." She threw her hands up and began pacing around the room. "Trading with humans? You have got to be kidding."

"Sorry, Holly," he said apologetically. "No, I'm not. I was keeping an eye on this human before the crash; she has enough of the drug and, if you explain the situation to her, I think she'll be more than willing to help."

"To _her?_ Foaly, just who exactly are you talking about?"

He grinned nervously. "Well…"

* * *

Holly descended upon the estate, her ancient pair of wings struggling to keep her in the air. She had never thought she would see this place again, nor had she wanted to. She didn't exactly have fond memories of it. _Besides, I'm already fully busy with one child genius. Don't want to get my hands dirty with another._

She found the child she was looking for quite easily. The human was kneeling in the dirt, attaching wires to what appeared to be a collection of solar panels, a man who Holly recognized as the girl's father standing behind her and keeping watch. Holly landed behind them and dropped her shield as the child said, "Don't worry. An hour or two is all I need; then we'll finally have electricity again."

Her father sighed. "I still wish you would share the technology with others. It could really help them."

"Well, I would if I could. But not everybody has the resources that I do."

Holly decided that it was time to interrupt. She didn't have time for human's energy problems and certainly wasn't interested in hearing about them. "Excuse me?"

The humans both jumped and whirled around to face her. The man clearly didn't recognize her; with her LEP helmet on to hide her ears and her wings, she looked like a child playing dress up. The girl's eyes widened the moment she saw her, though, and she jumped to her feet. "Holly Short?" she exclaimed. "Is that you?"

"The one and only. May I speak with you alone? It's important," she said in perfect French.

She nodded. "Of course. Father, can you leave me and the captain alone?"

"The captain? She hardly looks old enough to be a captain; who is she? How do you two know each other?"

"It's from an old business deal," Holly said smoothly. "I'm here to do business with her again. And thank you for the compliment, sir, but I'm much older than I look."

The man paused, then shook his head and raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. I'm sure you two will get your way eventually; might as well enable you. I'll be back at the house when you're done."

Holly smiled and thanked him, then turned to his daughter as he walked away. "Well, Minerva. It's been a while."

Minerva Paradizo grinned. "It certainly has. Four years, for me."

"A year and a half for me."

Minerva nodded, running a hand through her blonde curls and walking away to sit on a box of tools. "Yes. I have to say, I'm surprised to see you here, seemingly so amicable, after how I last treated you. Butler gave me a call when you and Artemis got back from Hybras; I was glad to hear about it. Now, may I ask where you and your kind have been these past five months? Or did you cause the technology crash to begin with?"

"You're the child genius; surely you have a few theories."

Minerva shrugged. "Perhaps I've cooked up a few. But you deflected instead of answering; you are behind the crash, aren't you?"

Holly rubbed her head with a sigh. "Deflected instead of answering? I forgot how brutally annoying you little masterminds can be in conversation."

"It's a gift. And you just did it again."

Holly groaned. "Fine, fine. A fairy is behind it, but it's a long story. This isn't some sinister fairy plot to overrun the world; our technology is out, too. The pixie responsible was somewhat of a genius criminal mastermind herself, only with less of a conscience than you. Not to mention a little insane."

"Well, at least we're safe from fairy assault, then." Minerva paused, biting her lip out of nervousness, then cut to the chase. "Holly, why are you here? I appreciate you being so friendly after what I put you through four years ago, but I'm sure this visit is more than a peace mission."

"You're right." Holly sat across from her, crossing her legs and taking off her helmet. "Minerva, I came to ask for your help. I know that you have some of this drug back at your little fortress, so don't deny it." Holly took Foaly's note out of her pocket and handed it to her; the centaur had written the drug's name down, saying that if they got the wrong medication because Holly mispronounced its name, he would never let her hear the end of it. "I'm willing to pay for it, but I don't have much. This isn't an official operation, so I don't have access to LEP's budget."

Minerva barely glanced at the piece of paper before her piercing gaze was back on Holly. "Why do the fairies need this? And surely you have some of your own. Why come to me?"

"Because we're going to run out of the drug tonight, and it's very important that we get some more. Please, Minerva?"

The human shrugged noncommittally. "I may have some. I may not. If I'm going to give it up to you people, I think I deserve to know why."

Holly paused. Foaly had told her to avoid telling Minerva the truth about the clone if she could help it. Hopefully, she could rely on the little human's ignorance of fairy technology and only tell her half the story. "It's for a clone. We accidentally grew its bones faster than its organs could keep up. The clone needs to be finished as soon as possible and if you give us the drug, it'll save the clone's life."

"Not good enough, Holly. A clone? That's your best story? I'm no fool. Please don't waste my time. A clone isn't that important."

"Minerva…" Holly trailed off, struggling to come up with the right thing to say. She doubted she could outsmart the child genius, but she had to try. She didn't want to tell the human about what she had done to Artemis and that was his last chance at life. "Minerva, you owe us a favor. You could have been mind wiped after your little run in with demons, but you weren't."

"Yes, and I am willing to return the favor by giving you the medicine for free. In exchange, all I ask is information. How did technology crash? And why do you _really_ need the medicine?"

Holly hesitated. There was really no harm in explaining about Opal's death and its ramifications, but she still would prefer to keep silent about Artemis's fate. There was no reason for her to tell even more people how she had failed him and let him die.

"Holly," Minerva began, "if it is really that important, than you should be able to tell me. What are you afraid will happen? No one knows about the fairies because of me, not even my own father. Kong gave him quite a blow to the head and he remembers nothing about the whole demon business."

"No, no. It's not that I'm afraid I'll tell you and the entire world will end up finding out. It's not that. It's just… complicated."

"I'm a genius, Holly. I think I can handle it."

Holly shook her head. "No. That's not what I mean… if I tell you how technology crashed, will you consider that a fair deal?"

Minvera frowned. "Well, I seem to have stumbled across something very important here. You're just piquing my interest, Captain. You can't do that then leave without telling me what's going on; that would be just mean."

"I'm sure you'll live. If you want to play in adult matters, you'll have to get used to getting your feelings hurt."

Minerva smiled innocently. "Oh, Captain, there is no need for that. You need something, and I want something. Seems simple enough. Nothing but a business deal."

"You know, you really remind me of Artemis." Holly's smile faded at the mention of her friend, and she sighed, allowing the tension to seep out of her shoulders. This was to bring her friend back to life. Did it really matter what she had to do to get that to happen?

Holly lowered her gaze from Minerva's, instead, looking down to the concrete. She bit her lip and struggled to speak for several minutes before finally just abruptly coming out and giving it as a blunt statement. "Artemis is dead."

Minerva blinked, her smile vanishing in an instant. She remained still for several seconds before she overcame the shock and shook her head. "Oh… oh my god. What happened?"

"Long story. Hopefully, you'll get to hear it from Artemis yourself someday."

The human frowned, her eyes lighting up even as she shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand… you said he was dead."

Holly nodded and allowed herself to smile. "He is. That's why we're making a clone."

Standing, Minerva began to walk back and forth, absentmindedly tying her long hair back into a ponytail. "Well, that won't accomplish anything. Assuming your methods of cloning are more advanced than ours, you'd end up with someone that looks like Artemis. There'd be no chance of him actually having the same personality, the same intellect, the same-"

"No, no. We can't create life. Our cloning science is about as advanced as it'll probably ever be; all we're able to do is grow a creature without a life force. That's where Artemis comes in. He was killed by an old fairy spell. It was only supposed to target fairies, but…" she trailed off and tapped her human eye.

Minerva's eyes widened. "You switched eyes in the time tunnel. Of course! But that was enough? That was enough for him to die?"

"He knew it would be. Artemis knew that the spell would kill him, but he had a backup plan. The spell was only enchanted to take fairy souls, not human ones. And all a clone needs is a soul…"

Minerva stared at her, then begin to smile. "Aha. Artemis is just like I remember. It's a daring plan, I'll admit that, and unless you fairies spend your free time studying ghosts, all theoretical… so that's what you need me for. Growing your clone. Well, I'd be honored to help- although I still want to know just what caused all those explosions five months ago."

Holly glanced at her and smiled. "Come on. Take me to the drugs. And don't you know? Come on, a genius such as yourself doesn't already know?" She forced a faux playfulness into her voice, trying to get her mind off of Artemis and the ticking clock speeding towards his resurrection or his second death.

"Well, as I said, I have theories. But none fully explain the magnitude of this global disaster."

"I'll give you a hint, then. Two words: time paradox."

Minerva groaned. "Time travel? Again? Just how advanced are you fairies?"

Holly shook her head distastefully. "More than you'd like to think. Time travel's been illegal ever since we got back with demons that made it possible again."

The girl actually giggled. "Ah, to live in a world where time travel was illegal instead of impossible. But I digress. Time paradox, huh? Let me think." The two walked in silence for another minute, Minerva leading the way. Holly remained quiet, letting the human think, until suddenly the girl snapped her fingers and smiled. "Time paradox! Of course! The very definition of the phrase is traveling into the past and preventing a future action from being done, then traveling back to the future. And nothing is more decisive than murder in the past!"

Holly blinked. "Um… I guess so?"

Minerva chuckled. "I know I'm right, even if you don't. And I remember reading about a theory once that would explain everything that's happened here. Quantum physics trumps normal physics, and-"

"Is it possible for you to sort this out mentally? I've already heard it explained once. I don't think I'll live through hearing it again."

Minerva wasn't listening. She continued to explain the same theory Artemis and Foaly had five months ago, and Holly resisted the urge to cover her ears. She'd had enough mind numbing lectures in the past four years and really wasn't in the mood for another one. Finally, though, Minerva turned to her with a light laugh and asked, "Who'd you kill? Must have been really important to cause all this destruction."

"I didn't kill anyone!" Holly protested crossly. "It was her own fault for following us into the present. She should've known that her future self was an insane lunatic that would have her killed."

"Well, that's different." Minerva shook her head and laughed again. "Two of the same person in one time period. And, what, did the older one have a death wish?"

Holly shook her head. "No, just a wish for universal domination. She made a few… miscalculations."

Minerva giggled again. "It seems Artemis has rubbed off on you. Miscalculations? Did she not realize that killing herself in the past would mean death by nuclear fission?"

Holly paused, then opted for the easy way out and shook her head. "Apparently not," she murmured, deciding not to get into the specific details of that horrific night. The human seemed to pick up on the change in tone, because she sighed and looked over at her hesitantly.

"You know, I can read body language quite well. And unless fairies are more different than humans than I thought, you're lying… not just about the time travel girl, either." Minerva narrowed her eyes and Holly shifted self-consciously under her gaze. The human was quiet for a long moment, then abruptly changed topic.

"Holly, how likely is it that this clone idea will work?"

Holly flinched. She had hoped Minerva wouldn't ask that question, mainly because she didn't have an answer to it. To pretend it was a failsafe plan was easier, especially because it allowed her to believe, even for only a few minutes, that it _was_ a failsafe plan. That Artemis was definitely coming back to life and his death was nothing more than an inconvenience soon to be rectified instead of a tragedy.

"I don't know, Minerva," she said carefully, trying to make it sound like Artemis's plan was almost sure to work. "I don't have an actual number for you."

Holly didn't even come close to fooling her. Minerva frowned and shook her head. "It's not likely at all, is it?"

Once again, Holly couldn't answer truthfully. She tried to deny it but ending up just shaking her head, unable to meet her gaze. "Sorry, no. It's more like a last ditch effort than anything else."

Minerva sighed, leading her into the same villa that Holly had once led a rescue mission into. "I'm sorry. That's… awful." She remained silent for a moment, then looked up and met Holly's eyes. "Holly, how did he die? What actually happened?"

"I told you, it was an old-"

"-spell. Yes, I remember. No, _how_ did he die. You can't tell me that he just stumbled upon an ancient curse and died for no reason."

Holly paused. When she finally raised her gaze to meet Minerva's, she was fighting tears. "He died to save his species. You owe him your life, Minerva. Your entire race does."

Minerva's blue eyes widened, and she stared at her for several long moments before she lowered her head and started walking once again. "I'm not surprised," she said softly.

A few long moments passed in silence. Finally, the human whispered, "I'm sorry. I can see that you two were close… I shouldn't have asked." Holly said nothing while Minerva unlocked a door and led her down into a basement, the human giving her a few moments to herself to regain her composure.

Instead of bringing up Artemis again, Minerva changed topics. "I should have plenty of the drug in storage. Free of charge, just for you. It's hidden away in a safe with my other chemicals."

"Why does someone your age need all those chemicals?"

Minerva turned to her and winked. "Why, I don't know what you mean. I'm just a little girl who occasionally gets into her father the doctor's medical supplies."

"Yeah, and trolls fly."

Minerva laughed again. "In all seriousness, Captain, you've worked with more than one child genius. You shouldn't be asking why someone _my age_ needs them, you should be asking if I'm planning to replicate one of your biological bombs."

Holly smirked. "Are you?"

"Perhaps. If I was, do you really think I would confess to it?"

Holly and Minerva both laughed as the human led her through another locked door and towards a safe. Minerva grimaced. "Used to be booby trapped. Before, if you even took a single step into this room before saying the activation phrase, you'd be knocked out with my personal signature of gases. Hydrogen-"

"Spare me. Please, gods, spare me." Holly leaned back against the wall while Minerva quickly opened the safe. She rummaged inside for a moment, then pulled out a large bottle of a murky green liquid.

"Here you are," Minerva said, handing her the bottle. "I hope it goes to good use. That bottle costs over two hundred dollars."

Holly eyed it doubtfully. "This looks more like poison than anything else. And, please, Minerva. That's pocket change, for you."

Minerva thrust the bottle into her hands and led the way out. "It may not look lovely, but I assure you that it is the correct drug. Be on your way, fairy. If it was enough to entice you to come speak with me, I assume you sorely need the drug underground."

"We do. The LEP thanks you for your cooperation."

"The LEP has nothing to do with this operation. Otherwise you would have just knocked me out and taken it."

Holly smiled. "Think what you like." She put her helmet back on was on the verge of shielding when Minerva stopped her.

"Holly, this time, don't forget about me. After you try out your clone plan, please tell me how it turned out."

Holly nodded slightly. "If it works, I'll come with Artemis to thank you for your role in this."

Minerva raised an eyebrow. "And if it doesn't work?"

She paused, then vanished, beginning to shield. Out of the empty air came the three solid words, "It will work."

* * *

"Happy birthday, Foaly." Holly handed him the bottle of medicine from Minerva and shook her head tersely. "She put up a little fight about handing it over. I had to tell her about the clone."

"It's for a worthy cause, right?" Foaly set the bottle down on a cart full of dozens of different medications, then called, "Hey, Alex! Just got the medicine; make sure you_ read _the label before you use it!"

Alex glared at him. "Ha ha. Very funny."

"So," Holly said, looking down at the clone, "what timeline am I looking at here? Another month?"

"Four weeks, if it continues at this rate. Before we started the project, I said that six months was ridiculously optimistic, but it seems that Artemis was right on the money. Any longer than six months, and we might as well not even try- but it looks like we just might make it."

Holly smiled, still watching the clone. It looked older than it had yesterday; its hair was slightly longer, and was she imagining things, or was it taller? "Foaly, how fast does this thing grow again?"

"About one year per week. Such accelerated growth is not without its risks, but I don't think we had any other choice. I've done what I can to prevent muscular atrophy, but he'll probably need a few months worth of physical therapy. And I've been giving him medication to protect his organs from failing due to the amount of drugs in his bloodstream, but we'll probably have to give him a little magical surgery to stop him dying of mass organ failure."

Holly's eyes widened, and she stared down at Artemis again. He didn't _look_ as sick as Foaly as describing. "Foaly, are you serious? He looks all right-"

"Yeah, I know. Trust me, his life should be in no danger, and I'm exaggerating. I don't know what'll happen if Artemis comes back. There's been no research on the subject, not with humans. Best case scenario, nothing happens, Holly; you don't need to worry. If the plan works, I'll keep an eye on him for a couple months until I'm sure he's fine."

"You didn't mention anything about this before." Holly watched Foaly as the centaur shrugged and continued taking notes, occasionally glancing at a monitor. "Foaly, there's no risk of this becoming a serious problem, is there?"

"Oh, no. Magic could fix him right up, although I'd prefer we get a medical warlock to do the job- otherwise, things could get nasty." He shook his head and set his notebook down. "This entire problem could have been avoided if I wasn't on such a tight schedule. If I could have just turned this into a two year long project, like Opal did with her clone, Artemis 2.0 here would be perfectly healthy. Six months of intensive drug use is much, much worse for the body than two years of minor drug use." Foaly paused, tapping his fingers in an irregular pattern on top of the chrysalis before turning away. "What's done is done, eh? I'm tired, and my shift's up. I'm going home to Caballine. You going home, too, Holly?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Holly shook her head. "No. The place is still a wreck, and it's not as if anyone is there waiting for me. I'm staying here, Foaly."

"I know you are. I'll be back in the morning. Four more weeks of this?"

She nodded and gave him a tired smile. "Four more weeks."

Kensi and Alex were left behind as Foaly and Mayne left. Holly looked to them and was surprised, at the very least, at what she saw.

The two elves were tired and beaten down, seemingly barely able to stay on their feet. Alex's long black hair, usually let down, was now pulled back into a messy ponytail, with dark circles under his green eyes and his black LEP uniform wrinkled with a stain on the shoulder. Kensi's short blonde hair was a mess and her tired brown eyes kept drooping shut, almost as if she were about to pass out from exhaustion. She hadn't changed out of her LEP uniform, either, and it looked to be in just as bad shape as Alex's.

"Wow," she breathed. "You two look awful."

Kensi nodded while Alex glanced up at her, his gaze exhausted and holding a hint of anger. "Of course we look awful, Captain. Unlike you, our night is just starting. Tomorrow morning, we'll be at LEP, working doubly hard to cover up for Foaly's and Mayne's absence. We don't get to sleep until tomorrow night."

Holly glanced away guiltily, focusing her gaze on the clone again. "I'm sorry. It's only for four more weeks; then the clone will be fully grown and you can stop this whole affair."

"Yeah," Kensi snapped. "We get to go back to LEP, but what do we get from these past six months? We weren't paid to do this. We can't put this on our resume; it's illegal. We don't even get a friend back, like you do. We've practically killed ourselves, working with Foaly on this. Did you know that my sister lost her husband in the crash? I was late to his _funeral_ because of your clone!"

Holly winced as Alex picked up where Kensi had left off. "I haven't spent a night with my girlfriend in months, Captain. I can't even tell her why I'm so busy because it's illegal! I hope your friend is worth all this trouble."

Unable to look them in the eye, Holly leaned against the chrysalis, resting her head on the plastic. "He is," she murmured, staring down at the Artemis clone. He gazed blankly up at her, and when she moved her hand, his eyes followed it.

Foaly said that it meant nothing. He said that the eyes naturally tracked movement and just because the clone responded to her presence didn't mean it was really Artemis. The clone didn't really matter, anyway; whether it recognized her or not, they weren't trying to make Artemis's soul, just his body.

Still, the idea that his clone could recognize and respond to her to was comforting.

Holly tapped her finger lightly on the plastic. It was a simple pattern, even more so than the one Artemis had taught Nopal. _One, two, three, four e and a. One, two, three, four e and a. One, two, three, four e and a…_

Every night, before she went to sleep, she would tap that same pattern on the chrysalis. Artemis had yet to tap it back to her. He had tried, a few times, but the weak muscles and jerky movements had never been able to quite get it down; it would always dissolve into sporadic movements with no pattern at all. She had slowed it down for him a few times, but Artemis was still unable to replicate the pattern.

Occasionally, it had struck her as ironic. Artemis, who had once found the pattern in the rapidly flickering numbers of the time bomb to indicate how time was skipping on Hybras, was now unable to copy to simplest of patterns that any fairy baby could pick out.

"Arty, come on," she murmured, tapping the pattern again. "I know you can do this."

The clone stared blankly up at her, his dark blue gaze innocent and childlike- two words that she never thought would apply to Artemis. She tapped the pattern out again, a rhythm among the myriad of beeps of the machines around them. "One, two, three, four-e-and-a. One…"

Artemis's right hand twitched. She watched eagerly as he slowly raised a finger up and brought it down lightly. "Come on," she murmured again. He had done this before- it, like how his eyes followed her movements, meant nothing. Holly tapped the pattern out louder, watching as he slowly tried to copy her. His hand moved much slower than hers did, but it did move. He began the pattern, tapping once, twice, three times… then finally the last four taps.

Holly pressed her forehead up against the plastic, smiling down at him. "Yes," she cried, tapping again. "Do it again. Do it again, Artemis."

The clone's fingers tapped it out again, his eyes watching her. When she smiled and nodded vigorously, unable to help the tears brimming in her eyes, the clone's eyes closed. It was like it had been trying to please her, and Holly sighed, continuing to tap out the pattern, if it a little softer now. She closed her eyes, using the chrysalis as a pillow, and allowed herself to go the sleep.

_Four more weeks. _


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you all for reviewing! For a preview of what's to come, mozey on over to my profile :) Also, another bit of sad news; I have just received my Euphonium audition music and... let's say it's just not playable. And I'm someone who plays Mozart. (D'Arviting brass players don't D'ARVITING TRILL!) As if I needed more to keep me from writing. But, on the upside... this update is short, but I think we can all guess what happens next chapter...

_Four weeks later..._

"Holly. Holly, wake up."

Holly opened her eyes to the familiar basement, seeing Foaly standing above her. She shook his hand off her shoulder and immediately got to her feet, searching for danger, her body alert. "What's going on?"

Foaly smiled at her. "I ran a few tests this morning, and the results just got back. The clone's organs have matured to the point where it can live off life support."

Holly shook her head, fighting off the remnants of sleep. She glanced around the room, surprised to see Alex, Kensi, and Mayne all there. "What does that mean?"

Foaly patted her shoulder with a broad grin. "It means that it's time for us to bring the clone to the surface. It's ready."

Her eyes widened, and she rushed to the clone in excitement. Sure enough, it looked not a day older than Artemis had when he had died. Holly began to smile, resting her hand on top of the chrysalis. "It's him," she whispered. "Just like when he…"

"Technically, he's a little older. He's almost sixteen; the time got away from me. But, believe me, no one will be able to tell the difference. Not even Artemis himself, I'd bet. Step back, Holly. We've got to hurry."

"Hurry? Why?" she asked, even as she moved away and allowed Foaly to take her place beside the clone. "Don't we just have to get him to the surface?"

He nodded. "That won't be easy. Travel to the surface at night is still suspended, the streets are still dangerous at night, and we can't be seen dragging around an illegal clone. I used my connections and got a shuttle waiting for us- paid the guard on duty to look the other way. It's still going to be difficult, and Alex, Kensi, and Mayne won't be with us. It'll just be the two of us and the clone."

"Why? Where will they be?"

Foaly laughed as he and Alex lifted the clone onto a hover trolley, still attached to its life support systems, but it was Kensi who answered. "Forgive us for not wanting to become victims of a crime, Captain. I've been mugged three times this past month alone, all at night. I'd rather not have to hide from criminals _and_ the LEP while toting that clone around. Subjecting myself to being arrested or beaten up was never part of the deal.

Holly had to agree with Kensi. Major reconstructive efforts had yielded impressive results over the past six months, much more so than the disconnected, decidedly pathetic attempts of the humans on the surface. Things had almost returned to normal underground- during the day, at least. At night, criminals- mostly escaped convicts and homeless, jobless fairies with nowhere else to go- were still prevalent on the street, searching for fairies who had something to steal. The problem had gotten so bad that LEP dispatched officers every night to patrol the city; Holly had been unlucky enough to be on the job several of those nights and had come out of it bruised and exhausted every time.

"Fine," she agreed, holding the door as Foaly pushed the hover trolley up the stairs. "Thank you for all your help." At their groans and eye rolls, she said, "I mean it. We never would have gotten this far without you. I do intend to repay you any way that I can." Holly wasn't one for gushing displays of gratitude, nor did she have time for it right now, so without another word, she hurried after Foaly out of the basement.

"We're a few good miles away from my shuttle," Foaly told her quietly as they stepped out onto the street. "We need to get there before the sim-lights switch to day, or anybody and everybody could see that we're dragging a clone around the city."

Holly nodded, silently pulling her Neutrino out of its holster and searching for anybody on the street. There were a few homeless elves who lived outside the bank down the street but, aside from them, it appeared to be deserted. "Come on, Foaly," she muttered. "Let's hurry. I don't like this."

"Oh, come on. You've been in a lot more dangerous situations than this."

"Yeah, but Artemis's life is riding on this. Just… hurry."

Foaly walked quickly down the street while Holly kept an eye out for anybody who might be interested in trying attacking them for a few gold coins. Foaly kept glancing at his watch and the sky, occasionally shaking his head and muttering under his breath. The entire journey took them only about half an hour, both of them jumping at every noise and sticking protectively close to the clone. They were almost in the clear when Foaly rounded the corner and was hit in the face by a waiting elf.

"D'Arvit!" Foaly cried, stumbling back as Holly pushed him aside and rammed her shoulder into the elf. He tried to kick up at her but she planted her foot on his neck and drew out her gun.

"You picked the wrong guy to rob, _cowpog_. I'm LEP. You have five seconds to get out of here before I arrest you for attempted assault of an officer." She lifted her foot slightly but the elf didn't move. He just smirked up at her, and that was when she realized that this wasn't just one elf.

"Foaly!" she gasped, whirling around, but it was too late. Another elf was standing behind him, holding a knife to his throat, and a third was leaning against the hover trolley, grinning at her.

"Well, _LEP_, I think you're outnumbered. Give us all the gold you have on you and we'll be off with whatever you've got here," he told her with a wink, patting the clone's life support system without any idea what it was.

Holly glowered at him, her gun still pointed at the elf on the ground. "I won't give you three another chance," she warned. "You have _five seconds_ to leave or you'll regret ever even _thinking_ it was a good idea to rob us."

The three laughed at her. "Listen, girl, you're not in any position to be making threats. Just hand over your money and no one gets hurt."

Holly locked eyes with Foaly and gave a small, almost unnoticeable, nod. He nodded back and Holly smirked, looking towards the leader of the little gang once again. "Fine. No more warnings." Then she fired her gun, even as Foaly stomped on the foot of the elf holding him back. The one behind Foaly cried out and grabbed at his foot, dropping the knife, while the elf underneath her foot shouted in pain as Holly aimed her gun at the leader.

For someone whose genius plan had instantly evaporated in the space of five seconds, he did hold it together rather well. He simply paled, glancing around nervously before taking a rather large step back. "Um, actually, Miss, when I think about it-"

"Just get out of here. _Now_."

Nodding thankfully, the elf turned and ran as fast as he could down the street, his two companions hurrying after him. Holly kept her gun aimed at the fleeing street toughs for a moment before glancing at Foaly, who was rubbing his nose. "You okay?"

The centaur nodded slowly, rotating his jaw. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Just about broke my nose, though." Shaking it off, Foaly grabbed the hover trolley again and was about to start off when another voice called out to them.

"Hey, Miss! You okay over there?"

Holly groaned, quickly holstering her gun when she saw an LEP officer walking casually over to them. He hadn't been there when she could have used the help, but now, of course he would show up. Normally, Holly would have told him off for not arriving to help on time, but today, she was on a schedule. "Yes, everything's fine."

"I saw you had a handgun there. I'm afraid those are illegal; I'm going to have to-"

"I'm a cop, too; LEP Captain Holly Short." Holly flashed her badge and gestured for Foaly to get moving. "I'm escorting my friend here for an LEP operation. Thanks for your concern, officer, but we're both fine."

The officer frowned, his eyes on the hover trolley. Holly moved casually in front of it and started to walk after Foaly, hoping the cop wouldn't ask anymore questions. She didn't have time stay and talk to him; she had to get the clone up to the surface as fast as possible.

Thankfully, he finally just nodded at her and went on his way, still occasionally glancing back at her in confusion. Holly hurried to catch up with Foaly, her hand still resting on her gun.

Foaly glanced at her and rolled his eyes. "You get rid of wanna-be-cop back there?"

"No, I invited him along with us. Thought it might be fun for him to start spreading rumors about us and a clone."

"Ha ha. Very funny." Foaly rubbed his nose again and grimaced. "I think it's bleeding. How I am going to explain this to Caballine? I told her I was going to be at Mulch's ceremony all day, not gallivanting around town and the surface with the walking dead. You know LEP is actually giving him a medal?"

Holly nodded distractedly, still keeping an eye out for anyone else with a mind to rob them. "Yeah, I think I might've picked it up somewhere around the tenth time Mulch bragged about it. I think he got it so one of his many arresting officers is the one to present him with the medal."

"Why am I not surprised?" Foaly trotted down the street, keeping a tight grip on the hover trolley, and sighed in relief when the blast doors came into view. "Thank the gods. Come on, let's get this thing to the surface before we run into more trouble."

Holly nodded in agreement and picked up her pace. "Run, centaur, run. I don't want to still be underground when they let the public in. It's a full moon tonight and there'll be a ton of hopefuls trying to visas to try and perform the Ritual."

Even as Foaly followed her lead and began to run down the street, he glanced at her sourly and retorted, "And that's why centaurs are always infinitely better than you elves. No magic, no need for Ritual."

"No magic means you aren't legally allowed on the surface without a camouflaged aircraft; you can't shield. Elves, on the other hand…"

Foaly shrugged. "Whatever you say. I practically _lived_ on the surface for three years waiting for you and Artemis to get back from Limbo. I never understood what the hype is all about. There are too many humans everywhere."

"Foaly, you were in a fairy base set up over a deserted patch of ocean. There were no humans around."

He just waved her off. "They were plenty close. I swear, I could _smell_ them. I admit, I like Artemis and Butler, but I never could stand being so close to so many humans _all the time._ It got a little unsettling."

Holly just shook her head and led him through the blast doors to where Chix Verbil was waiting for them. He winked at her. "Hello there, Holly. Always nice to see you around here."

"Chix, perhaps now would be a good time for you to go on break."

Chix shrugged and pocketed the handful of gold coins Foaly passed to him. "Sure thing, pretty. Call if you need me. Or don't need me. I'd welcome a call from you any day."

Holly glared at his retreating figure before taking control of the hover trolley as Foaly led her down to a particularly new shuttle that seemed to be waiting just for them. "Was he that insufferable when you used to work with him?" Foaly muttered to her as he pressed his hand up against a sensor on the door.

"He was worse. Used to do a flip in mid air because he thought it was impressive; once, he even hit his head on the door by accident."

Foaly chuckled. "I'm surprised you didn't shoot him. Now, come on! Get him in here!"

Holly slipped in after him, still pushing Artemis in front of her, and Foaly closed the door behind her. It looked like a state of the art shuttle- if not designed for comfort- and she had to wonder how Foaly had even gotten the budget for something like this when the city had been in ruins. She settled herself at the controls while Foaly checked on the clone and answered her unasked question. "I had this thing built because I knew every second would count by the time we got around to using it. Almost as fast as the _Silver Cupid_ was and is made entirely by yours truly. Or at least supervised by me. No way Koboi wormed her way into this one."

Holly mostly ignored him, focusing on powering up the shuttle and beginning the familiar journey to Fowl Estate. "Better hold onto something!" she called back to him before swerving out of dock and rocketing up the vent. She heard a crash behind her and could assume Foaly had fallen over his own feet.

Her suspicions were proven correct when Foaly shouted up to her, "Aren't you supposed to warn people before you do that? For gods' sakes, Holly! I nearly got a concussion!"

"Shut up, Foaly!"

Foaly heeded her instructions, remaining quiet and holding onto the clone as Holly flew the shuttle in such a manner it would have horrified her flight instructor from the academy. She pushed the ship's engine to its limit and flew so close to the tunnel walls on the bends that Foaly could've sworn he was going to die. He almost asked her to slow down, but they were running on a tight schedule here and Holly was racing to save Artemis. He couldn't blame her, even if she was flying like someone with a death wish.

They made it to the surface in record time, Holly slamming on the breaks and swerving around to stop them from crashing. Foaly groaned as she skidded into his base, crushing several computers on the way, and had to resist the urge to complain. "Collateral damage," he muttered to himself, even as Holly cut off the engine and turned to him with a grim, determined expression on her face.

"Engaging camouflage," Holly mumbled, almost to herself as she crashed through the wall and headed to Fowl Estate. "The sun's rising," she called back to Foaly, who was still reeling from the flight to the surface. "We're going to have to watch out for humans. The spot where he… where it happened is out in open. How long should this take?"

"The clone can survive for perhaps fifteen minutes off life support. I wouldn't bank on much longer than that. If Artemis is still here, it could take him several minutes to find his way into the body."

Holly nodded but didn't reply. She didn't like how Foaly had said, '_If_ Artemis is still here…' There wasn't a question in it. Artemis _had_ to still be here. There was no question about it. Every day, these past six months, Holly had only been able to function by holding onto the reality that Artemis was still alive and, in six months, he would be back with them once again. If he didn't come back…

Holly shook her head, pushing that thought out of her head. Artemis had to come back. There was no other option.

She guided the ship to the ground outside Butler's dojo then stood, glancing back at Foaly. "I'm going to get Butler. The clone still okay?"

Foaly glanced at its vitals and groaned. "After that ridiculous flight up here, I'm shocked to find it so, but yes. Hurry up with Butler. Artemis will be barely hanging on at this point, and that's even if he's still here at all."

Holly nodded curtly and left the ship, refusing to let his words affect her. Artemis was still here. That was the only option.


	13. Chapter 13

100 reviews! Wow! Thanks, you guys! Once again, I copied some of the dialogue from the book. I did my best to write different descriptions, but it was difficult to do so when I was describing the same events. This chapter is more Artemis/Butler-y. For those of you who want to read some Artemis/Holly (friendship-centric, for now) hold on until chapter 14! And, now... enter Artemis!

Holly didn't know how Butler knew. Perhaps it was just the urgency in her eyes, or her shaking hands, or maybe just the odd hour, but he knew what Holly was there for the moment she came to stand in the doorway. "About time," he said, getting to his feet. "Artemis leaves you instructions, and it takes you people half a year to figure them out." He walked briskly outside, Holly hurrying to keep up with his long stride.

"Artemis's instructions weren't exactly simple to follow. And, typically, they were entirely illegal."

Butler stopped when he saw Foaly standing in seemingly mid air outside, in the middle of a floating doorway. He shook his head at them both. "Which do you think looks less suspicious. An alien-looking shuttle, or a floating doorway with a centaur standing it?"

Foaly grimaced and exited the ship, pulling the hover trolley behind him. The door disappeared once he hit the ground and he followed after Holly, who began leading the way to where Artemis had died. "Stealth isn't exactly my main concern here," he pointed out. "And can we get on with is? Everything we're doing here is against fairy law and is possibly immoral. If I stop to think about this for more than ten seconds, I might just change my mind."

"You and I both know that you will not _change your mind._ We've worked too hard and come too far to just return home with no result." Holly took control of the hover trolley and began to walk a little faster, unable to stifle her impatience.

"So, what's the plan?" Butler asked. "And what've you fairies got there?"

Holly glanced back at him and nodded slightly, unable to force a smile. This was too serious. "Contrary to what you've thought, Butler, Artemis actually has been dead this entire time. But he _did_ have a backup plan in case the fairy eye killed him- a clone."

Butler frowned, beginning to shake his head. "Artemis wanted Foaly to grow a clone? Even an old soldier like me know that you need DNA for that…"

Holly tapped her forehead. "That's why he kissed me. He knew that we were advanced enough to get enough DNA out of that to make a whole lot more than a single clone."

"A genius to the end. …Wait. Aren't clones poor, dumb creatures? Nopal could barely stay alive-"

"And that," Foaly cut in, "is where magic comes in. Yes, you're right about clones- because they don't have a soul. This plan wouldn't work if Artemis died in _any_ other fashion, and it may not even work now- but we're still going to try. Bruin Fadda's spell didn't just kill fairies, then dissipate. It was made to take all fairy spirits into the afterlife; Artemis's life was only collateral damage of that purpose. And Artemis theorized that his soul would be left behind because it was fully human, even if his body was not. Normally, his soul would still be drawn to the afterlife anyway… but Artemis might have had enough human in him, and enough sheer willpower, to remain in this realm. His spirit could be a free-floating, ectoplasmic, ethereal organism right now."

Butler actually stumbled, turning to stare at Foaly in shock. "Are you saying that Artemis is… a ghost? Are you actually _saying_ those words?" He turned to Holly, looking for a straight answer.

She nodded. "The Berserkers were ghosts for ten thousand years, Butler. It was Bruin Fadda's enchantment that allowed them to hang on for so long, but he didn't turn them into ghosts himself. Since that proves that spirits can hang around after death… It's possible that Artemis lasted for six months."

"_Possible?_" Butler asked, his eyes widening. "Possible is all we've got?"

Foaly laughed without humor. "Possible is being optimistic._ Barely concievable _is more in the ballpark."

Holly undid the clips of the refrigerated container on top of the hover trolley and gestured for Butler to come to her side. "Yes, well, the barely conceivable is Artemis Fowl's specialty."

Butler followed Holly's direction and lifted up the lid, and what he saw inside took his breath away. Beneath him lay Artemis's clone in a transparent tent, its breath fogging the plastic. "Artemis," Butler breathed, his eyes examining the clone, unable to find any difference except for a slightly different haircut. "It's him, _exactly_."

"Well, almost," Foaly said with a shrug, beginning to unhook the clone from its life support systems. "I had to play with the hothousing. And I didn't have access to my own lab, so it has a genetic defect, but it's close enough, for my first time making a clone- not to mention it was a backstreet job. It pains me to admit it, but Opal did a good job."

Butler paused, still staring down at the clone. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but there was something off about it. "It's… he's fifteen, now, right?"

Foaly grimaced and ducked behind a twist of nutrient pipes to hide his face. "Actually, I made a few miscalculations, so he's a little older. Don't worry, I gave him a total makeover. Skin shrink, bone scrape, marrow injections- even lubed his brain. Believe me, his own mother won't be able to tell the difference."

Foaly then glanced around the deserted estate, searching for any humans, and changed the subject. "Now, to work. Show me where Artemis died."

"Down there," Holly said, pointing. "By the…"

She had been about to say _tower, _but the word caught in her throat at the sight of Berserker Gate. She had not been there since the funeral over five months ago, and thus was unprepared for the sight.

The night Artemis had died, the hill had been covered by sparse grass, most vegetation burned away by Opal's outbursts and the spell. Now, six months later, the grass had grown back, along with a sudden blooming of a hundred and one red roses, sprouting out in an unnatural formation that seemed to emanate from the exact point where Artemis had collapsed. The sight formed a hard lump in her throat and she struggled to swallow, staring at the glorious testament to Artemis that seemed to have grown of its own accord.

Butler carried the enclosed clone down the incline, hardly able to believe that the last six months had all come down to this moment. He could see it in Holly's eyes; there was no other plan. If this didn't work, then there was no other course of action. After six months of waiting and hoping, _this_ was Artemis's plan, and _this_ was where everything would begin again or end forever.

"Butler, you must place the body in the roses. In the center of the spiral," Foaly directed. "Without life support, we don't have more than ten minutes until degeneration begins."

He nodded, kneeling and gently lying the clone in the flowers, on a soft patch where there were no thorns to pierce it. Holly came up beside him and unzipped the tent, moving back the flaps to reveal Artemis's new body, its breath coming in short gasps, sweat already sheening its forehead.

Foaly moved quickly around the clone, straightening its limbs and tilting its head back to clear its airways. "These roses," he murmured, "they are a sign. There's magical residue here. I'd bet these flowers are in pretty much the same formation as Bruin Fadda's original rune."

_"That's_ what you're basing all this on?" Butler asked incredulously. "You're pinning your hopes on the shape of a few flowers?"

"No, of course not, Butler. The magic did not enable Artemis to become a ghost- but it could help anchor him to this world. Someone with Artemis's willpower could easily last a few months."

Butler shook his head, staring dismally down at the motionless clone. "What if… what if this doesn't work, Holly? What if I let Artemis die?"

Holly turned to stare at him. For six months, Butler had been the one telling _her_ that Artemis wasn't gone. And now, in the cusp of the moment, he was asking if, after everything, he had still failed. If Artemis really was gone.

_If this doesn't work_, she realized, _Butler may never recover._

She shook herself, steadfastly refusing to even imagine the possibility. "It _will_ work!" she exclaimed, squeezing his shoulder. "Now, less talk and more resurrecting. Foaly, how long do we have?"

"The clone can survive for perhaps fifteen minutes without life support. If Artemis comes back anywhere along the way before the clone dies, then we'll be in the clear."

Butler stood, silencing his doubts. Holly was right. This _had_ to work. "What should I do?"

Foaly shook his head, moving to stand a few feet back from the clone. "We've done everything we can. Either he appears now, or we have lost him forever."

Holly knelt in the dirt, her hands forming fists around the roses, oblivious to the many thorns that pierced her flesh. She was unable to tear her eyes from the clone, waiting and watching. Every single night she'd sat by the clone's side, watching it grow… all come down to this. She found herself nervously tapping out that same pattern with a shaking finger- _one, two, three, four e and a, one, two, three, four e and a… _

They waited, but nothing happened. There was no dramatic change, as Holly had always imagined there would be. The clone didn't sit up and smile. It didn't struggle. It didn't even move. She tore flowers out by their roots, her entire body starting to tremble as she waited in torment.

While she worried, Butler remained on his knees by her side. He kept his eyes trained on the clone's face, flashing back to times spent with his young charge. _There was never anyone quite like Artemis Fowl, _he thought. _Though he never did make my job any easier with all his shenanigans. _Butler smiled. _Artemis always had my back,_ _even if he could barely reach it._

Minutes passed, with no sign of movement from the clone to show for it. Birds sang, a gentle breeze blew, and the sun began to rise- but the clone still did not move.

Finally, Butler spoke, his voice soft and broken. "Holly… Holly, he's not coming."

As soon as he finished speaking, though, things began to change. The wind started to pick up, blowing harder around the hill. Rose petals were lifted into the air in a rushing wave as the wind blew, seemingly in a spiral fashion around the clone. The wall of petals obscured Holly's vision, and she sat up straighter, starting to smile. _Has he done it? Is this Artemis Fowl's greatest moment?_

"Artemis!" Butler called above the wind. "Artemis, come to my voice!"

The petals swirled even higher then suddenly dropped like stones. The clone remained motionless.

Holly crawled through the carpet of petals, falling to his side and taking his hand. "Artemis," she whispered, the word almost like a prayer. "Artemis, please."

Nothing. Not even breath now.

Butler had no time for his usual impeccable manners. He walked briskly forward and moved Holly aside. "Sorry, Captain. This is my area of expertise."

He knelt over the pale clone and searched for a heartbeat. There was none. He tilted the clone's head back, pinched it's nose, and breathed life into its lungs.

He felt a weak heartbeat.

Butler actually fell back with a gasp, his stunned breaths coming in short and quick. "Holly. Holly, I think… I think it worked."

Holly threw herself forward, falling back beside Artemis, her voice weak. She could hardly speak but the words couldn't be held back. "Artemis," she said urgently. "Artemis, come back to us."

Two more breaths passed, the clone's chest rising without its eyes opening. Then several rapid, jerky gasps and his eyes flashed open. Both startlingly blue. Human. They were initially wide with shock, then fluttered like the wings of a jarred moth.

"Be calm," Holly murmured, her voice wrought with emotion before it broke. "You're safe now."

Artemis's eyes narrowed, and he frowned, his gaze flicking form Holly to Butler. His muscles tensed, almost as if he was preparing to run. "Stay back," he warned. "You don't know what you're dealing with."

_Stay back, Mud Boy. You don't know what you're dealing with. _Her first words to him.

And now, his first words to her.

Holly couldn't help it. She smiled and took his hand, unable to stop shaking as her eyes filled with tears. "We do know you, Artemis. And you know us. Try to remember."

Artemis did try. He concentrated, his gaze jumping from human to fairy. Foaly trotted up behind them, and Artemis's eyes widened in surprise until, finally, they colored with recognition. "Y… you," he said hesitantly. "You are my friends?"

Holly wept with sheer relief. "Yes," she sobbed, shaking so hard that Artemis's hand that was entwined in hers trembled slightly. "Yes. We are your friends." She wanted to stay here, to preserve the sweet tenderness of this moment forever. Instead, she forced herself to regain some control of herself, even though her tears were still falling. "Now, we need to get you inside, before the locals arrive and see the recently deceased heir being escorted by fairies."

Artemis seemed beyond further shock. Butler took his arm and helped him to his feet, on which he was obviously unsteady.

"Oh, go on, then," said Foaly, offering his broad back. "Just this once."

Butler lifted Artemis up and set him down on the centaur, steadying him with one huge hand. "You had me worried, Arty," he said. "And your parents are devastated. Wait until they see you."

Artemis slowly looked around at his traveling companions, his eyes flicking from Butler to Holly to Foaly. He was clearly confused, and Holly found herself slipping her hand into his. Artemis's head whipped jerkily around to stare at her and she just smiled. Six months of worry… why had she ever been worried that Artemis wouldn't come back? Of course he would.

"Tell me," he said at last, his voice still weak. "Who are you?"

Holly couldn't help it. She lowered her head to hide her smile, tears still running down her cheeks. She had dreamed about this day every night for six months, ever since Foaly had taken the DNA off her forehead. It was so hard to believe that this was actually happening. Artemis really was back and the plan had worked. It was something that she had never dared to believe, even if she had never been able to even entertain the possibility of Artemis's plan failing. It had been a difficult line to walk.

And now, she didn't have to.

"I'm Holly," she finally said, raising her head to look him in the eye. "We've been friends for seven years. Or, perhaps four, from your point of view."

"Butler, at your service," Butler said with a small grin. "You better not think of pulling something like this again, Master Artemis."

Artemis still looked confused and weak, but he gave an uncertain shrug and an apologetic smile. "Eh… my apologies?"

"No, don't apologize," Foaly said. "At least not for that. You don't know how much trouble you've put us through these past six months. There's a group of very angry elves and a centaur underground who won't be satisfied with a fruit basket."

Artemis seemed beyond further amazement. "Once again, my apologies. I'll be sure to send them thank you cards, or perhaps multiple fruit baskets. I still don't have even the slightest inkling as to what you're referring to, though."

"Don't worry. You will." Holly shot him a grin, and Artemis's did smile back, even if he was still confused. She was relieved to see that, even if Artemis's memories weren't with him, he seemed to still be the person he hand been when he died, rather than the heartless child he'd been growing up. She didn't think the world would be able to handle a return of the criminal mastermind.

"So. Holly, Butler, and-?"

"Foaly," the centaur said over his shoulder. "My name is Foaly and you owe me thanks for that new body of yours."

Artemis frowned, looking himself over. "Really? So, then, I suppose I should thank you for the sixth toe on my left foot? Something tells me I'm only supposed to have five."

Foaly heaved a heavy sigh and groaned. "Oh, for the love of the gods. I _resurrect_ you, but that's not enough, is it? You've still got to find the one tiny flaw? Well you, my friend, are what I like to call a prototype. First- and hopefully only- one of your kind. It's not as if I'm looking to turn you into an advertisement for my venture into the thriving clone business. And you could still thank me!"

"Oh, relax, Foaly. You did a good job; looks he can walk and talk, which is better than six months ago. And I'm sure your _prototype_ will be plenty grateful when he remembers."

Foaly just grumbled under his breath. Artemis raised an eyebrow, absorbing the wealth of information in just those few sentences before he looked to Butler, who had watched the entire exchange with a small, proud grin and was shaking his head.

"Don't suppose they'll ever make nice, do you, Holly?" he asked over Artemis's head.

"Oh, I doubt it. Artemis will forever hold it over Foaly's head that this was all _his_ plan to begin with."

Foaly grumbled some more while Holly and Butler laughed, leaving Artemis watching the entire scene silently. He had no idea who these three were, but he thought he trusted them. He wasn't sure what about them was so familiar, but they certainly didn't seem to be any danger to him- although Butler definitely could be if he wanted to.

The centaur jumped lightly over a low bush that the others simply walked around, and Artemis gritted his teeth, his fingers invariably twisting into the soft hair on his back so as not to fall off. Nausea gripped him as Foaly landed and winced, glaring over his shoulder. "Hey! Little gentler back there, Artemis!"

Artemis released his grip and weakly rested a hand on his stomach. "Sorry." Butler put his hand against his back as he continued, wincing as the nausea rose, "Would you mind not jumping?"

"Artemis?" Holly asked, looking at him closely. "You okay?"

"He's fine," Foaly said dismissively. "Probably a mild form of motion sickness. After all, he's been lying down entirely still for six months. It should wear off quickly."

Holly shook her head. "Still, I think we should hurry up and get him inside. Any longer and some human is bound to spot us. The walking dead on a centaur's back is surely a sight that would stick in any human's mind."

Foaly increased his pace and Artemis held back a groan, leaning more heavily against Butler's hand. It wasn't long before they reached the mansion, and Holly searched around for any sign of humans while Butler helped Artemis over to a couch. He was still unsteady on his feet and fell back onto the cushions, gazing at the ceiling, a hand still on his stomach.

Holly stared down at him, actually unable to stop smiling. They had actually done it. Artemis was actually _alive_. Whether he could remember her or not didn't matter; he was finally back. After spending six months sitting by the clone's side, watching it grow and gain strength, it was actually a shock to see it- him- suddenly up and _alive._

"Well... here we are. Welcome home, Artemis," she said, and smiled down at the confused human who was looking around curiously. "Sorry it took us so long."

Artemis raised a thin eyebrow, his no longer dichromatic eyes piercing into hers. "Do explain what you mean by that. _What, _exactly, took you so long?" He glanced at Foaly when she didn't answer, curiosity sharpening into worry. "Will someone please elaborate? You certainly don't seem very upset that I can't remember you..."

"That's because the alternative is far worse." Foaly gestured at him and shook his head. "If you only knew."

"Yes," Artemis said dryly. "If only one of you would explain it to me."

Holly grinned down at him, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder. "Always the same, aren't you? Don't worry, you'll get your explanation." She paused, then, struck by a thought, and glanced up at Butler. "Butler, where are his parents?" Holly asked, peering around the corner. "Any explaining we do will take a while, and Foaly and I should probably be gone before they show up. His father'll probably have a heart attack if he sees his recently deceased son _and_ a centaur."

"His parents are in the city for most of today. We're in the clear for at least twelve hours."

Artemis watched his supposed friends discuss how they were going to explain everything to him, growing more and more confused by the second. He decided that, before they got too involved in what was sure to be a long-winded and difficult explanation, he wanted to get a look around his location. He still didn't fully trust these people and thought it would be wise to find out as much as he could about his current situation, lest he was wrong and they actually did mean him harm. He paused, searching for the right excuse to explore his location and get his bearings, then took a deep breath and stood, leaning against the wall for support. "I need to change out of this," he announced, fingering the hospital gown with shaky fingers. "And then I want to know what's going on here. The hints you've dropped are quite disturbing, to say the least."

Butler exchanged a look with Holly and Foaly before nodding. "Come with me," he said, gesturing for him to follow him out of the room. "The entire story is no less horrifying than anything you've guessed about what happened… you're sure you don't remember anything?"

Artemis shrugged slightly, taking small, careful steps to try and stave off the motion sickness Foaly had mentioned and looking around him, adsorbing all the details he could. "I don't remember much. I know that you three are very familiar- and I seem to recall that I trust you. Aside from that…" He trailed off and shook his head, seeming unhappy with himself. "No. I must be imagining things."

Butler shook his head. "I wouldn't be too sure about that. Some of your run ins with the fairy folk, I wouldn't believe myself if I hadn't been there to see it. What do you remember?"

He shook his head, hiding behind his too-long hair. "It'll sound ridiculous. I'm aware of that; you don't need to worry that I'm stark raving mad. I have scattered memories in which I am with… some sort of god. Her name was Opal. She had unimaginable power, and you three are nowhere to be seen. I know that she was trying to kill me."

"Opal is no god." Butler's gaze darkened, and he absentmindedly rubbed his scalp, still devoid of hair from when she had burned every last follicle on his head. "But I know what you're remembering. It's what happened right before you died."

Artemis laughed dryly. "There is my proof that this is all nothing but a hallucination. Death can not be reversed."

"That's what I thought. That's what we all thought, but you were a genius to the end. You'll have to talk with Foaly for details, but you _did_ come back to life. But enough of that, for now." Butler led Artemis into his room and gestured at the the wardrobe with a wide sweep of his hand. "Luckily for you, your parents have practically left everything of yours untouched… almost as a shrine, of sorts. They've really missed you, Arty."

Artemis, who had been sifting through his numerous suits, paused. Without turning around, he asked softly, "They're not the only ones, I take it?"

"You left behind a lot of people, Artemis. And I don't know what you expect, but you can't make everything they've gone through vanish with a_ mesmer_, like you did last time." Butler's voice was unexpectedly harsh, and after a few stunned moments passed, he sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry. It's just been a rough six months… not just for me. For all of us."

Clearly his throat, Butler abruptly changed subject, his customary gruff voice replacing the pained one of moments before. "Do you need my help?" he asked, gesturing to the suit Artemis had in his hands.

He shook his head. "I doubt it. Some of my strength is returning."

"I'll be outside, then. Call if you need anything." Butler made no move to leave, though, still standing in the doorway while Artemis watched. The boy raised an eyebrow, and suddenly Butler wrapped him a crushing bear hug. "You don't _ever_," he whispered after a tense moment, "do something like this again."


	14. Chapter 14

Thank you all for reviewing!

Artemis waited until Butler left shut the door behind him, then turned and walked for the mirror he'd noticed when he'd first entered the room. He was interested to see what he looked like- perhaps that could jog his memory, because nothing else was.

_Perhaps I could cut my hair, as well,_ he thought, brushing a long strand of raven hair out of his eyes. _Heaven knows why I keep it this long. _

His reflection did not give him the memories he had hoped for. In the mirror, he saw an unrecognizable boy, too thin and too pale, not old enough to be an adult yet too old to be a child. He had dark, unkempt hair that was cut unevenly, some of it continuously falling in his dark blue eyes- the same color as one of Holly's eyes, in fact. His skin was deathly pale, and he looked almost sickly, standing in there in a hospital gown. Artemis shook his head. The reflection reminded him of nothing.

He stripped down to nothing, using trembling hands to pull a pair of boxers and black pants up shaking legs. He had to clutch the counter a few times to stop himself from falling and finally leaned back, exhausted, worn out by even that simple action. He glanced back at the boy in the mirror, who gazed back at him curiously, now bare-chested. He was too thin, his bones too prominent to be healthy. He could easily see his ribs and grimaced, tracing one of them with a long finger. "You look awful," he said to his reflection. "Don't suppose you want to give me any hint as to what is going on?"

His reflection blinked back at him and remained silent.

Artemis sighed. "I thought not." He slipped on a white button-down shirt and shook his head vigorously, trying to permanently keep his hair out of his eyes. He walked slowly to the door and almost felt like his legs were about to give out, but his curiosity drove him to continue.

Outside, Butler was waiting for him, as promised. He stood, taking Artemis's arm when he stumbled, almost tripping over his own feet. "You okay?"

He nodded weakly. "Yes. Just tired. I can sleep later, though; I still want an explanation as to what exactly is going on."

"Of course you do. Come on. Holly and Foaly are waiting." Butler led Artemis back to the fairies, still keeping a firm grip on his arm in case he fell. He was silent for a few moments, then looked down at his young charge apologetically. "I'm sorry about what I said before. I know that what happened wasn't your choice."

"_What_ happened? You're starting to worry me. You say I was dead, but…"

Butler nodded slightly. "You were. I never believed it… I always thought you had some sort of plan. But it turns out that you were."

Artemis sighed in aggravation. "Death is _not_ reversible."

"Well, you're alive."

"Which leaves two possibilities. One, most likely, I'm in a coma and imaging all of this. Or I never really was dead, simply surviving some sort of an incident that turned me into an amnesiac."

Holly smiled at him as they reentered the room, shaking her head at him. "Or, three," she finished for him, "you really did come back from the dead."

Artemis frowned. "Evidence still points to me being in a coma."

"Oh, trust me. You're in no coma. I should know; I've been the one making that clone body of yours into a healthy, full grown human. If you were in a coma, you'd be a little less annoying and a little easier to keep an eye on."

"I resent the implication that I am annoying," Artemis retorted, sinking onto the couch beside Holly to rest his legs. "But, you say that I am a clone? How interesting. That fits up with several peculiar facts that I have already noticed."

Foaly narrowed his eyes. "Oh, really? Do tell. My clone is a perfect copy; you shouldn't be able to notice any difference whatsoever."

"Exactly. A perfect copy- aside from the sixth toe." Artemis smirked when Foaly turned away, miffed, and continued. "But I have no scars whatsoever, and look like I just came off a diet nearing starvation. However, that doesn't explain everything."

"You don't know everything!" Foaly laughed. "Just allow me to savor the moment for a second. Explaining everything to Artemis Fowl… how enjoyable."

Holly punched him in the shoulder. "Just explain, Foaly. Don't get a swelled head."

Rubbing his arm when the elf turned away and wincing, Foaly looked back at Artemis and sighed. "Fine. But don't think I'll be forgetting this anytime soon. Artemis… do you remember _nothing_ about how you died?"

The Irish genius grimaced, wishing these people would stop speaking of how he had supposedly died. He still didn't believe it for a second and he wanted to point out the fallacies in the statement whenever it was said again. "No, I don't- I remember something about Opal- some kind of god. She was trying to kill me, I know that much- but that's all I remember. Butler assures me this really happened, but I find it hard to believe."

Foaly and Holly shared a dark look before Holly spoke. "That did happen. And she was really trying to kill you. All of your kind, actually. You sacrificed yourself to stop her."

"Opal killed your body, but not your spirit. You knew before you went after her that she might succeed in killing you, and left a few hints for us to follow. You wanted us to make you a clone."

"So my spirit would have a body," Artemis said slowly. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Forgive me for thinking this all sounds rather ludicrous. You're assuming I believe in the existence of spirits." He paused, then frowned. "Of course, if I were in a coma, there is no reason my own mind would present me with such an absurd situation as this."

"Exactly. Surely, someone as logical as you must except the only logical explanation."

Artemis shook his head at Foaly and closed his eyes for a moment. "I think you might have a different definition of logic than I do," he murmured. He kept his eyes closed, too tired to stay awake for much longer, and decided that it must be safe to let his guard down among these people. If they wanted to kill him, they could have easily done so already. So far, he had no reason not to trust them.

"Well, I have to go," Foaly announced regretfully. "I told Caballine I would be home early today, to make up for how little I've been around these past six months. By the time I've gotten back underground, Mulch's ceremony will be almost over."

"Yeah, probably because both of us know your flying skills are deplorable."

"Just because we're not all willing to risk death doesn't mean you're the only one who can fly a shuttle, Holly," Foaly retorted. "I have flown before, you know. And, as I'm the one who _programmed_ the auto pilot function, I think I know how to use it myself. Artemis, I'll be in touch. Any problems you have, you need to tell me immediately- I didn't have time to run any final tests, so I don't know how well I put everything together. As I already told Butler, I had to play with the hothousing. …Artemis?"

Holly laughed quietly. "You're wasting your breath, Foaly. He's asleep." She waved her hand in front of his face to demonstrate her point and grinned at him.

Foaly rolled his eyes. "Am I really that boring?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "You're welcome, Holly. Pass what I said onto Artemis, will you?"

Holly nodded, promising that she would, and then Foaly left. Artemis was still unconscious on the couch, and she stood, allowing Butler to shift his young charge so he was lying down instead of sitting upright. "So," Holly began hesitantly, "Butler. I suppose now would be the time to apologize."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Butler turned to stare down at her, a hint of betrayal in his eyes. "You've known about the clone the entire time… and yet, whenever you came to see me, it was always with such assured statements that he was gone."

She sighed, sitting on the table so she could look him in the eye without getting a crook in her neck. "I'm sorry. I wanted to say something every time I saw you, but I couldn't bring myself to bring your hopes up for nothing."

"So then why did you tell me this morning? You could have come get me once Artemis came back. But no, you told me beforehand that there was still a chance, before you knew whether he was alive or not."

"I know." Holly shook her head and leaned back on her hands, dropping her gaze. "I thought, I suppose, that Artemis would want you there when he came back. And you did have the right to know, after all."

Butler sighed, looking down at Artemis. He was_ alive_. Every single breath he took was a beautiful sound and he was finding it hard to be angry at Holly, not when Artemis was finally back. He did still have a few questions for her, however. "Holly, you should have told me from the beginning."

"I know! I know… I think I just didn't want you to suffer the way I was." At Butler's confused expression, she shrugged and looked down at her sleeping friend. "Butler, every day, for the past six months, I've rushed to Foaly's secret lab the second I got off work. I started sleeping there, near the end. When I was at work, all I could think about was the clone- it was almost worse than believing Artemis was dead. I didn't want to make you go through that, too- especially when you were above ground and weren't able to check on the clone's progress. It was an impossible situation, and I tried to make the best of it."

Butler tried to suppress a smile and failed. Even if he wished he had known about Artemis the entire time, now that his young charge was alive, he couldn't bring himself to dredge up much anger at anyone right now.

Still smiling, Butler straightened up, looking towards the door. "Holly, would you mind staying with Artemis? I need to go find Juliet. She's watching the twins today, but I think she deserves to know that he's alive. She's been feeling so guilty about what happened… I think it'll do her some good to know that he's alive."

Butler voice's was soft and tired, and Holly, still without looking away from Artemis, nodded. "Yeah, of course. I took the day off work. I don't have to leave for," she checked her watch, "over twelve hours… do the twins know? About fairies, I mean."

He shook his head with a gruff sigh. "Beckett is too young; if we ever tell him, we'll have to wait until he's older. Myles doesn't seem to remember being possessed… it's probably only a matter of time until he follows Artemis's trail and discovers you for himself. He'll find out someday, but his parents and I thought it was best to wait."

"Then we'll just have to think of something else to them. Or Myles, at least. …I don't think it would be helpful for Artemis to see the twins now. He'd have to lie to them, and when he already can't remember…"

Butler nodded in comprehension. "I'll go get Juliet, then, and just tell her to come find you. I'll watch the twins."

After Butler's footsteps had all but faded away, Holly sat down on the couch beside Artemis, the sight of him bringing a smile to her lips. She pulled a blanket up over his too thin shoulders and he made no response, and she still couldn't stop grinning. He looked like death warmed over, but that made no difference, not to her. He was still_ alive._

* * *

_Artemis writhed in the grip of the skeleton and the mummy, looking wildly around the small tower for anything that could help him. But there was nothing there. The goddess stood before him, unusually short yet emanating with power. Beside her were two out of place servants, one a very small child, the other an adult woman in her early twenties. They were both disheveled and bruised and cut but stood tall, seeming not to feel the pain from their injuries. _

_The goddess- Opal- was laughing at him, chastising him for failing to save his race. She pointed to a stone slab before her and laughed, the sound high-pitched and unnatural. "Touch it, Mud Boy," she taunted. "Try and close the gate."_

_And he did. He ripped his arm away from the mummy's grip, tearing flesh and drawing blood as he did so, and dived forward, slapping his hand down on the glowing green handprint on the slab. The child and the woman forced him back, the child uncharacteristically coordinated for his age, and Artemis found himself recaptured by the mummy and the skeleton._

_The goddess laughed at his efforts. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mud Boy. It seems that you have failed. That gate only responds to me, to my handprint, to my DNA. And this is no computer that you can hack! This is magic, Mud Boy. I would wish you luck, but I don't even see the point. You've failed your entire race, Mud Boy. How does that feel?" she taunted. Artemis tried to rip his arms out of his captor's grasp once again, but to no avail. "How does your complete failure to save everyone you know and love feel? They're going to all die. It's a pity you won't be able to see it; you'll die instantly."_

_"No!" Artemis cried, trying to run forward once again. "No, stop! Kill me, just don't kill them! This isn't about them!" _

_The goddess paused, her expression falling into a frown. "Wait. Just wait. Mud Boy, are you really so conceited as to think that this is all about _you?_ You have been nothing but an small obstacle in my path to ultimate power. You, and that bothersome Foaly, and Holly, with her annoying ability to come back from the dead and intercede when you least expect it. But this was never any foolhardy revenge mission! You are _not_ as important as you think, Artemis Fowl! You're just a Mud Boy with the intelligence of more than a gnat. But that doesn't make you special."_

_Artemis glared defiantly at her, unable to do anything from his position but still trembling with anger. The goddess just cackled, then turned to his companion. Artemis glanced at her, and it appeared to be Holly, though her body seemed to be different. The goddess lifted her unconscious face with a slim finger and laughed at her._

_"What about you? Have anything to say to me, you pathetic little elf?"_

_That woke Artemis up. He threw himself forward and forced the little goddess back, actually throwing her to the ground before the child and the woman attacked him again. Getting to her feet, the goddess glared at him and dusted herself off, her eyes narrowed to slits. "Bellico! Oro! You keep a hold of the Mud Boy!" she commanded before turning back to face Holly._

_"That…" Artemis panted, "is Captain Holly Short of the Lower Elements Police. You will address her with the proper respect. She is more than twice the fairy you will ever be."_

_The goddess turned to him again, seemingly more angered by this display of defiance than she had been by him shoving her to the ground. She stalked forward and trailed a thumb along his cheek, shaking her head in both confusion and fury. "You little Mud Boy, don't you understand?"_

_With her words, a bolt of pure energy zapped out from her finger and arced over his shoulder, so close that it took part of his shirt with it. "Look at me! I am a _god!_ And look at her!" She swept around to point at Holly, still unconscious in her servants' grips. "_Look_ at her! She could never come as far as I have!"_

_"You're no god. You're nothing."_

_The goddess glared at him, beginning to tremble, and whirled furiously back to the stone slab, her hand hovering threateningly over the bright red imprint. "You want to say goodbye to your race, Mud Boy?!"_

_Artemis shook his head. "I can not stop you from pressing that hand. I can control what I say as I die. And I say that you are no god! Holly Short is the kind of fairy worthy of wielding the second lock's power! You aren't, Opal!"_

_Opal spat out a laugh and pulled the unconscious Holly away from her guards, dragging her over to the gate and haphazardly slapping her hand down on the green handprint. "Too bad she can't use the gate, Mud Boy! Nothing's happening! Say good bye to your race, Mud Boy!"_

* * *

"Holly?"

Holly looked over her shoulder at the question to see Juliet standing in the doorway. She immediately stood to greet the human, though was somewhat surprised by her appearance.

The depressed woman standing before her was not at all like the bubbly and carefree- if brutally skilled- youth she remembered from their last meeting in Atlantis Hospital. Her long blonde hair was messy and no longer lustrous and shiny; it hung dull and lifeless around her head. There were dark circles under her eyes and she wore dark clothing, her skin almost as pale as Artemis's. It seemed she had taken Artemis's death almost worse than Butler had.

"Holly, what are you doing here? Butler told me you were here and had something to tell me…" she trailed off doubtfully, and Holly hid a smile before simply stepping aside so she could see the figure on the couch.

Juliet's mouth dropped open, her blue eyes widening in complete shock. She remained frozen for several seconds, unable to tear her gaze away from the sight before she turned to stare at Holly. "What- what- how-" she stammered, unable to even form a coherent sentence.

"Artemis wasn't dead, as it turns out." Holly smiled gently and Juliet stumbled forward on shaking limbs, appearing faint. "He's been here this entire time."

Juliet stared down at him and stumbled forward, remaining entirely focused on the clone. She stood, frozen for at least five long seconds before she suddenly tore herself away from the clone and turned to glare at Holly. "What is this supposed to be? I _saw_ his body for myself, Holly. He was dead! That isn't something you just _come back_ from! He didn't have a pulse! What, did Butler just convince you dig up his body and make it look like he was alive so I would feel better?"

"Juliet, calm down!" Holly exclaimed, aghast. "It really is him!"

"Oh, really?" Juliet tossed the blanket back and reached down to grab his wrist, feeling for his pulse. "If he's not dead, then why does… he have a pulse?" She stared incredulously down at the teen before grabbing his other wrist, almost as if she didn't dare to believe it. She felt his neck before leaning down and pressing her hand against his chest, feeling his heart beat, and feeling breath coming out of his nostrils. It was then that she really did fall back, her legs too weak to support her. Holly caught her and led her to a chair.

"What," she gasped hoarsely, "_was_ that? I felt a pulse! I felt his heart beat, but he… but he…"

"Not Artemis. A clone," Holly explained with a smile. "Artemis wanted us to clone him. The body you saw really was dead. But it seems Artemis's spirit hung on a little longer after his physical body did…"

Juliet shook her head weakly, her eyes still trained on the sleeping teen. "I don't understand! I- I heard you guys talking about that thing- I think you called it Nopal? You said clones were these dumb creatures that couldn't even live without-"

"Because they don't have a soul, Juliet! But Artemis knew that that Berserker Gate wouldn't claim his soul, because it, unlike his body, was fully human. This was his plan, and it worked. He's just sleeping right now, but, earlier, he spoke to us. This is no longer just a clone… it's actually _him._"

Juliet leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling and breathing hard. "Oh, god. I can't believe it." She took another moment to calm herself down before unsteadily getting to her feet and walking back to Artemis, looking him over again. "Wow. It really is hi… huh?" She walked forward and brushed his sixth toe before looking over her shoulder. "I thought clones were identical. Why does he have this?"

"Everybody's a critic! For gods' sakes, I bring the dead back to life and all you people can focus on is a tiny little sixth toe? Let's see you grow a clone, then! Then we'll see who the better tech is!"

Holly and Juliet both jumped, looking towards the intercom system, where the new voice had originated. Holly took a step closer to it, frowning, then groaned and threw up her hands. "Foaly! Foaly, where are you?"

"On a shuttle back to Haven, where did you think I was? But the ride is long and I'd rather be up there, watching my experiment come to life, so I just hacked into the security cameras and intercom system. Hello there, Butler's little sister."

Juliet waved numbly at the camera while Holly shook her head. She glared at the camera and gestured for him to leave. "Foaly, you did a fantastic job on the clone- now go away, or I'll disconnect the cameras and intercom myself."

Foaly sighed, the noise crackling through the speaker. "Sorry. I'm just irritable because I haven't slept in gods know-"

"Then why are you talking with us? The shuttle's on autopilot; sleep there. Go home to your wife and sleep with her. But you've been complaining about how hard you've been working for months, and now that the clone's finally alive, you hack into Fowl Manor just to keep an eye on him?"

"I almost don't know what to do with myself! Before today, every moment of my spare time was occupied with Artemis 2.0 up there. Now…"

"Relax," Holly chuckled. "Goodbye, Foaly."

Foaly sighed. "Goodbye, Holly." Though there was no physical sign of it in the room, Holly was sure he had stopped watching and listening to the goings on in Fowl Manor and was now on his way home.

While Holly pulled the blanket back over Artemis, Juliet spoke. "So… it's really true? This isn't some kind of trick?"

"No trick. This is real."

"Wow." Juliet began pacing softly around the room, absentmindedly winding her long hair up into a ponytail. "This is… surprising. And… such a relief," she finally admitted. "I know that it's selfish, but now that he's alive… I can finally stop feeling guilty. The twins, they were only four; there's no way they could resist those… those spirits possessing them." The human shuddered at the memory, and Holly couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Being possessed was one of the worst things she had ever felt in her life, and Juliet was just a young human with little experience in magic. It must have been unbearable.

"But I heard Myles resist that creature; I heard him say things that that sick beast would never say. But me… I _let_ that thing pull on my memories to try and… and kill my brother. I was trying to kill him and you and Artemis; I almost destroyed my species!"

"Juliet, that wasn't you. I've been possessed before; I know what that's like. I nearly killed Artemis myself."

"Yeah, but you didn't look into his parents' eyes and lie to their faces! You didn't have to tell them that their son had died in an explosion when you had murdered him!" She bitterly wiped away her tears and stood stoically against the wall, fighting back frantic sobs begging to be released. "You didn't murder him; but I did!"

"Do you know what killed him, Juliet?" Holly snapped. She approached Juliet, holding the little wrestler against the wall with one hand and pointing to her human eye with the other. "This. This killed him. In the time tunnel, we switched eyes, and it was that part of him that killed him. If anyone killed him, it was me. I should have foreseen something like this happening and tried to have a warlock reverse it; you couldn't have done anything. If you're possessed, especially by spirits as strong as those were, you can't fight back. I could have saved him, though. I could have figured out his plan and switched places with him or never switched eyes with him in the first place. But don't call yourself the murderer when it was my eye that killed him."

What would have followed next would have been an intense silence had an alarmed shout not risen from the couch. Juliet and Holly both whirled around to see Artemis wide awake and staring at them in terror, his spindly arms shaking and his hands forming fists. The two women rushed forward, Holly pinning Artemis's wrists down so he couldn't hurt himself while Juliet hovered over her shoulder.

"Artemis, calm down! Calm down!" Holly exclaimed, easily holding him back as his trembling muscles tensed, his dilated eyes still focused on Juliet.

"Let me go!" he shouted. "Can't you see her?! It's her! It's Bellico! She hurt us before and she's going to do it again!"

_Bellico? What… oh, gods. _Holly gasped as Artemis swung a decidedly pathetic punch at Juliet and held him back before commanding, "Juliet, leave. Get out."

"What?! Holly-"

"I said _leave!_" she shouted, magic filtering into her last word, unrestrained in her current frantic state. There was a short silence, followed by hurried footsteps behind her and the sound of the door shutting. Once Juliet was gone, Holly was finally able to return her focus to Artemis.

"Artemis, calm down," she soothed, releasing her hold on his wrists when it became clear that he didn't have the energy to keep his struggles up much longer. "That's not Bellico. That's not her!"

"No, no!" he gasped, shaking his head back and forth. His weak muscles, unaccustomed to movement, spasmed slightly and he fought for each breath, his eyes still wide with fear. "That was her! I remember; the goddess told her and Oro to hold me back and she- and she-"

"Arty, shh. Shh. Calm down." She stroked the inside of his wrist, intending to comfort, but also able to feel his fast pulse falling to a more normal level.

Even terrified, Artemis noticed her hand hesitate on the pulse point on his wrist and he shifted immediately, rolling his hand over so she couldn't feel for his pulse. There was a hint of suspicion in his eyes as they darted around the room, examining every detail with a touch of urgency. Holly realized she was practically on top of him and moved back, moving her smaller hand so it was entwined in his.

"That was not Bellico. I promise. That was Juliet, Butler's sister."

"She looks nothing like him." His voice was suddenly cold and distrusting, his dark eyes occasionally flicking from Holly to the door where Juliet had disappeared. "I remember her."

"Artemis, what _exactly_ do you remember?"

He shook his head as his breathing returned to normal, his torso still shaking slightly from the strain of him trying to throw himself at Juliet mere moments before. "Not much. Just the goddess- sorry, Opal." He halted his speech and shook his head, almost ashamed. "Sorry. She just appears to be like a god in my memories, and that is how she referred to herself."

Holly nodded. "It's okay. I'm sure Opal would love that you remember her as such, anyway."

Grimacing, Artemis sat up a little straighter and pushed a sweat-soaked strand of hair off his forehead. "Well, she didn't love me in what I remember. You were there, too… at least, I think it was you. Whoever it was had your face, but not your body. She was too small. Then there was this child and _her_," he made a vague gesture at the door, "there with her. Bellico and Oro, Opal called them. She was definitely in charge and kept threatening to kill me and all the… Mud People. Humans, I think. She said it was my fault."

"Artemis… that's not true. None of it was your fault. Bellico and Oro are old fairy warriors that died ten thousand years ago. She brought their spirits back with black magic and they possessed Juliet and Beckett. Opal was a genius, but still insane, and decimating humankind was just one step in her plan for world domination."

"This is more ludicrous than your story of me rising from the dead."

Holly shrugged. "It's true. I wasn't there with you; Nopal was. Opal's clone. It only looked like me because you used a mask."

Artemis rubbed his eyes and shook his head, as if trying to clear it. "More clones? I'm believing my coma and hallucination theory more and more now."

"Talk to Foaly, if you want. He'll explain it in all the technical terms that big brain of yours can handle. Trust me, Artemis, this is no coma."

"Foaly? He's the talking horse, correct?"

"Centaur! I am a _centaur_, not a talking _horse!_ You'd think he would at _least _remember that!"

Holly and Artemis both jumped at the voice crackling from the speaker again, Holly raising her head to glare up at the camera. "_Foaly!_" she yelled. "What are you doing back here?!"

The centaur huffed. "I actually had a message for you, Holly. You left your wrist watch in the shuttle and it's been going off non stop for ten minutes. Trouble's trying to get in contact with you."

Holly frowned. "He say what about?"

"No, just that you're needed in Police Plaza immediately. Of course, I didn't tell him why you were on the surface with that clone there. Thinking I'm a talking horse... can you believe it?"

Artemis dipped his head and held back a smile. "Centaur, of course. My mistake. It's just that one tends to see a horse more often than a centaur."

Foaly bristled but remained silent while Holly paused, weighing her options. Fully aware that Foaly was now watching them, she kept her distance from Artemis and said, "Trouble does know that I took today off, right?"

"Apparently, it's urgent. And apology accepted, human. For now."

She sighed, shaking her head and turning to Artemis, who was watching her curiously. She would really rather stay up on the surface with him; he had just come back to life, for gods' sakes. She would much rather spend the day with her friend and was more than a little annoyed at Trouble for calling her back underground today, of all days, but she was still an LEP officer, and Trouble was still her commander. She didn't have much of a choice and was sure that he wouldn't be calling for her unless it was very important.

"Fine," she finally said, aggravated. "I'm on my way. Now, take your little electronic eyes underground and keep them there."

Foaly didn't answer, and Holly had to assume he was gone. She turned to Artemis and bit her lip, shrugging awkwardly. "Well, you heard Foaly. I'm needed underground, it seems."

"Go, go. Leave me be. I have a feeling I'll be able to sort some of this out alone."

Holly smiled and stood, squeezing his hand before withdrawing her palm. "I'll be back tomorrow. Promise. Butler should be able to answer any questions that you have in the meantime, though."

"I have my suspicions that Butler is a little more than someone who fetches me tea."

She laughed, smiling broadly. "Oh, trust me, Artemis. He can do a lot more than that."

Artemis smiled uncertainly himself, and Holly stood in the doorway, shifting nervously. Seeing him sitting there, _alive_ was just more than she could handle. For six months, that human had elicited every emotion in the book from her, and now, they were all rising to the surface. Pain, anger, loss, sorrow, love, fury…

He was alive. Those three words and the unavoidable evidence of their truth right in front of her kept ringing in her head. Suddenly, she moved, walking quickly forward to wrap her arms around him.

She felt him stiffen slightly but did not loosen her grip. She could now actually feel his heart beating, and it was finally enough for the horrible sight of him falling back into Butler's arms, already dead long before they reached him, to be forgotten for good. _Artemis was dead, but now he is alive. I just need to remember that._

She finally released him, pulling back to see the genius watching her closely. "What was that for?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

Holly stood and paused, searching for an answer. Finally, she spoke.

"I missed you."

Then she turned and left without waiting for a reply.


	15. Chapter 15

Thank you all for reviewing! In case you all are wondering, Holly's POV in this chapter is not worthless... it'll play a major role in events to come... in about ten chapters :) Although I did write it yesterday, in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy that occurred in my neighborhood, so I had other things on my mind.. I'm not making any promises about that scene... but the rest of this was pre-written. Oh, yes- and happy belated birthday, Artemis, however the hell old you're turning this year!

Holly stepped out of her shuttle to find Chix Verbil waiting for her- and, for once, he didn't seem to be waiting around to ask her on a date. The moment she saw him, he ushered her away from the crowds of people milling around trying to get surface visas, saying, "Holly, there's been an emergency. The commander's been calling for you every five minutes for at least half an hour."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Don't ask me; apparently, I'm not on the need to know list. He just told me to patch you through to him the moment you got back from the surface."

Grimacing, Holly followed him into the small corner in which LEP had set up all their equipment in and nodded back at him. "Thank you, Chix. I'll take it from here."

"You got it, Captain."

The moment he was gone, Holly, resigned that this would probably keep her from seeing Artemis again at least until tomorrow, turned to the computers. On one monitor, she could see Trouble discussing something in low, urgent tones with a Council member. She cleared her throat, uncertain if she should interrupt or not but too impatient not to. "Commander?"

Trouble glanced over at her, then sighed in relief when he saw who it was. "I don't even want to know why you were on the surface today, Captain; I don't have time. Suit up. You've got work to do."

Following his gesture to the spare LEP uniforms hanging behind her, Holly grabbed one, beginning to strap the wings to her back and slide the helmet over her head. "What work?" _Gods help you if its not an emergency, Trouble, because I think I'll kill you otherwise._

"General Gage left work to go to lunch three hours ago and hasn't been seen since. All of his electronics stopped broadcasting almost simultaneously and none of the city's cameras are picking him up. While I have officers all over the city scouring the street looking for him, I was ordered to send my best Recon team out looking for him in the air. That's you, Holly."

Holly, in the midst of turning on and powering up the wings, paused and frowned, actually looking at the Council member with Trouble for the first time. "Commander, you going all out for someone who's been missing for _three hours_ doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Gage is Council member Dawson's _son_, does it? Because I _don't_ have time for you trying to please the Council today, Commander!"

The Council member- Gage Dawon's father- glared at her even as Trouble's expression twisted. He looked positively livid. "Captain Short, I really don't care what you have time for. You'll do as you're ordered, and, right now, I'm ordering you to get back to headquarters. Your team is waiting for you on the front steps. Foaly will give your further instructions once you rendezvous with your team. And you _will_ follow them. Understand?"

Holly glared at him, barely holding back her furious response. She was here right now instead of with Artemis because a Council member was worried about his son? In all likelihood, he had just gone to his mistress's house and ditched his electronics so he couldn't be tracked, and she was going to waste a day hunting him down? All the while, her best friend was up on the surface after spending six months _dead_ and she had to be down here playing the Council's lapdog?

Casting Councilman Dawson a scathing glare, Holly activated her wings and gave a curt nod before rising into the air and flying away. "_D-Ar-vit_," she muttered under her breath, absolutely furious. If her urge to get back to Artemis wasn't so strong, she would completely ignore Trouble's orders and fly straight into LEP to give Dawson a piece of her mind.

* * *

"I've sent coordinates your way, Holly. They're Gage's last known location. As per Trouble's orders, you are to start from there."

Holly changed her flight path slightly to head to the coordinates and felt rather than saw her team follow her from behind. "Foaly, this is stupid and you know it. Gage isn't in any trouble. We should be on the surface with-"

"Seeing as there are about a dozen officials listening in on this communication right now, perhaps you might want to amend your statement, Captain Short. I know you weren't about to say anything illegal, but just in case you were..."

Biting her lip and actually shaking in anger, Holly shook her head and muttered, "Foaly, what in Frond's name is wrong with you? Stop being paranoid. I was about to say 'on the surface hunting down your wife's birthday present' before you so rudely interrupted me." _Thanks, Foaly._

"Well, never mind, then. Tell me when you reach location, Holly."

Holly turned off her mic and uttered a stream of expletives at the Council before switching it on again. This was absolutely ridiculous. She and Foaly had been working so hard for this day- perhaps Foaly more than herself- for six whole months, and they couldn't even stay with their friend for more than an hour before being called away because some father was worried about his son? Holly was no fan of General Gage, in any case; he was more than twice as young as her and had only been employed by LEP by two years and could hardly pass as a private, much less a general. His only skills worth mentioning were martial arts- which were impressive, she had to admit- due to years of his father paying off doctors for illegal experiments in hormones and gene therapy. And now, she was being forced to track him down instead of being with her friend? This measly excuse for an officer was more important than_ Artemis?_

Holly began to hover over Gage's last known location, still shielding so as not to attract attention. "Okay, I'm here, Foaly. Where do we go now?"

"Last camera to pick him up had him headed northwest twenty meters from you now. Two teams on foot are headed after him. Stay in the air and you'll likely pass them in ten minutes or so."

"Did he appear to be in any duress on camera?"

"...No."

_D'Arvit, Foaly! _"Yep, really sounds like he was kidnapped! Gods, what are we even looking for?"

She could hear Foaly's anger at this entire situation in his voice when he replied, "As orders higher up on the chain of command say, it is believed he has been 'abducted'." Holly could almost see Foaly put air quotes around the word and his skepticism was palpable. "Until another camera spots him, which has to happen sooner or later, we're looking for any signs of a struggle. We also need a team in the air in case we get a fix on his location so we can get someone to him as fast as possible."

_So, basically, I was called down here for no reason whatsoever. Wonderful._ "Foaly, he's been 'missing' for three hours already. If he's actually been kidnapped, there's no chance of him still being out in the open."

"I'm simply relaying my orders, Holly."

Groaning, Holly told the officers under her command Foaly's message and shook her head angrily. This really showed the People's priorities. _Fairy hero come back to life? Put that on hold! We've got a Council member's son who's probably perfectly fine, but it never hurts to double check!_

Holly flew higher, looking over her search radius. Perhaps she could find some way to steer it towards a port to the surface. That way, when Gage was found, it would just be a hop, a skip, and a shuttle ride back to Artemis. She probably shouldn't be anywhere near Gage when he was found, anyway; she'd probably take her anger out on him and that wouldn't lead anywhere good.

Foaly had been silent for several minutes when he suddenly spoke up again- and his voice wasn't as skeptical and angry as before. "Holly? I've just discovered something. I don't know if it's related to Gage or not, but it's illegal, whatever it is."

"What is it?"

"A disturbing amount of power usage from a building that has had no energy usage at all in eight months. It's also less than a mile from your location. It's privately owned by a rich Booki Palo, who I have nothing for but a birth certificate and a bank account on my server- probably a fake identity. And why bother creating a fake identity unless you want you want to keep your real name from being known, which you'd only do if you're involved in something illegal?"

Holly gave a heavy sigh. It sounded like a shaky lead, and that was being generous. Perhaps it was just the fact that she thought this entire operation was a waste of time and had somewhere much better to be, but she couldn't help but question him. "Foaly, is there any indication that has to do with Gage? ...Anything at all?"

"No, but I'm quickly becoming more interested in this than the general. I'm trying to hack into the servers and I can't. I _can't_ hack them, Holly. Do you know the last time I couldn't hack something? I'll give you a hint. It starts with Opal, and ends with Koboi."

Holly actually flinched. "D'Arvit, Foaly! She's _dead!_ Unless you think someone was actually stupid enough to travel back in time further than nine years to get a younger Opal to come back with them, _why_ in Frond's name would you even _mention_ her?! She's dead!"

"Well, I don't like the idea of someone smarter than Opal running around out there. Can you blame me? After all the trouble she's caused-"

"No! She's dead and I'm not going to listen to you even try to insinuate otherwise. Just send me the coordinates to this mysterious warehouse. I'll check it out, and then I am flying back up to the surface. This entire misadventure could have been avoided if someone's overprotective little-"

There was a slight beep that indicated Foaly had cut off her microphone, which was good, because she didn't think anybody listening in to their conversation wanted to hear what she had to say about the Council member. He also sent her the coordinates, and she forcefully changed paths, so mad she almost swerved into a billboard. Opal Koboi was dead and that was the way she was going to stay. Artemis had died for that very purpose, among others, and it was ridiculous for Foaly to even suggest otherwise.

"Holly, Trouble is advising that approach the target with caution- with doesn't involve swerving through the air like a drunk, mind you- and, for once, I actually agree with him. I'm starting to get worried. I still can't hack... oh, look at that, Palo, you left a hole in your firewall. Not so smart after all, are you? Heh. I knew it. Nobody can keep the great Foaly out of their system."

Holly groaned. "Frond, Foaly. So, what are they doing in there? Is Gage even there?"

"Give me a second, I'm still... what? What's going on- no! Stop! D'Arvit!"

"Foaly, what's happening?"

"Stop it! Oh, no... _Frond_... no, no n-"

Foaly's alarmed voice cut off abruptly, replaced by nothing but static. "Foaly! Foaly, can you hear me?!" she shouted, but he didn't reply back.

_Meanwhile, in the Ops Booth..._

Foaly stood in the sudden darkness, staring up at his blank monitor, stunned. A virus had just invaded _his Ops Booth_ and entirely shut it down in less than ten seconds. Granted, as of late, he had been busy and hadn't been able to update his security systems and check for dormant viruses- but that was no excuse for a disaster of this magnitude.

The system he had been hacking had reciprocated with a virus of its own- it had let him in, lulling him into a false sense of security while the virus installed itself, and then it took action. He had no communication, in or out, his entire system was down- even the lights had been shut off.

Foaly did not like being taken by surprise by this, nor did he much enjoy being bested, especially when it came to technology matters. But _this?_ This was taking it a step too far. Yanking off his headset and throwing it to the floor, Foaly stormed outside to where the commander, several other high-ranking officials, and Councilman Dawson were all watching a screen now overtaken by static in confusion. "Foaly?" Trouble asked, turning to look at him. "What happened?"

"What happened? Oh, I'll tell you what happened! I just got hacked! _Me!_ Someone just hacked _me!_" he exclaimed bitterly, moving past him to a laptop that wasn't on the same network as his Ops Booth and beginning to type. "I have to get in contact with Holly. This situation's a lot more dangerous than she knows."

"Why?"

"Why?" Foaly repeated, still without even looking back at the commander. "_Why?_ Let me explain something to you, Trouble: the last person to be able to shut down my Ops Booth was Opal Koboi. And, since she's clearly not behind this, someone equally as smart has to be, which spells danger for Holly if they went to the trouble of giving the warehouse she's about to burst into such a high-tech firewall. Whoever did this knows that I'm going to have to hack into Holly's communication network- a secure system that I designed myself- just to get word through to her that she could be walking straight into a trap."

* * *

"My communication with LEP has gone down. Everyone is to approach the location with caution and break in on my signal. Assume General Gage is inside with armed hostiles. Am I clear?"

Holly's team replied back in a quick affirmative, following her lead as she slowed down and hovered near the building. It didn't look particularly dangerous, but after the information Foaly had revealed and his mysterious exit, she had decided to treat the situation with a little caution.

"The entire building is at normal body temp. No thermals possible. If we're going in, we're going in blind."

Holly hesitated... but this was the closest she had gotten to combat in six months. She had forgotten how exhilarating action could be- and now, she was cut off from command and right above a potential target. How could she resist?

"All right, we're going in. Follow me." She descended onto the warehouse, pulling her gun out and sliding her hand around its warm, familiar grip. With a grim smile, she landed lightly near the door and knelt down to begin to pick the lock. She wasn't very surprised when she found the door surrounded by a small electric field that did little more than give her a tiny shock when she tried; whoever these people were hadn't gone to the trouble of creating a system _Foaly_ couldn't hack, and then practically leaving their front door wide open.

"Change of plans, everyone," she murmured. "I'm cutting through the wall. Be prepared to rush in the moment the pathway-"

"Holly!"

She jumped as Foaly's voice suddenly burst through her helmet. "Foaly, what-"

"Stop! Don- in- there! It- no- -afe!"

"Foaly, you're not coming through clear, say again."

Another static-like sound crackled through the speakers as Foaly yelled, "It's- -ap! A tr-p!"

"What?"

"-_rap!_"

Holly frowned. "What... it's a trap?"

"-es!"

She groaned. "D'Arvit! Why? And what do I do now?"

"Get o- -there!"

Holly turned on her heel, switching on her mic to include her entire team in the conversation and shouting, "Change of plans! Everybody, get back!" She ran across the street, diving for the first sign of cover and rolling into safety, fully expecting death by volcanic eruption or revenge-seeking-goblin or ghost- but nothing happened.

"Foaly, what happened?" she hissed, but only static answered her. It seemed whatever had been interrupting their connection before had taken over completely and blocked him out. Grumbling under her breath, she shifted her position behind the crate and rested her gun on her knee, watching the door carefully. No matter what she had thought before; even if this mission had begun as the pointless musings of a worried father, it clearly wasn't going to end up the same way.

She only had a few seconds to catch her breath before the door to the warehouse opened, revealing Gage. Holly, still shielding, immediately raised her weapon and aimed it behind him, ordering her team to get ready.

Exiting after him were a pixie and three elves, all walking silently with oddly cold, blank looks set stonily on their faces. They didn't seem to be armed, but after what Foaly had just warned her of, that meant nothing. "Go!" she shouted, leaping over the box and running forward to take the pixie down with a running leap. "LEP! Freeze!"

None of the four tried to run away or escape; they stood stoically and let the other officers crash into them and hold them to the ground as Holly glanced up at Gage, still holding her non-struggling opponent to the ground. "You okay, General?"

He nodded blankly, not seeming surprised whatsoever at his sudden entourage of LEP officers. He barely even reacted at all. "Yes, I am fine," he said, his voice completely calm. "These are just my friends from my poker game."

"It's good that you're okay, you have no idea... excuse me, what did you just say?"

He shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "These are my friends. We were just playing poker."

Holly reached under her helmet to rub her ears. There was _no possible way_ she was hearing him correctly. "You... were... what?"

Gage repeated himself again, he and his companions still seeming oddly calm, despite the fact that four of them were on the ground with guns held to their heads. "You... but... the door, and the un-hackable computers, and- and- we couldn't track you, and-"

"The door, the computer system, and my tracking system going offline were all due to my desire for privacy."

Shaking her head, Holly stood, still keeping her foot on the pixie's neck. "No, no- Foaly said it was a trap, he said-"

"Simply a misunderstanding. I assure you, I am in my danger, and my friends mean no harm to you."

Under normal circumstances, Holly would have been more skeptical. But as was still eager to get back to the surface and the general seemed to be under no duress, Holly slowly began to believe his ridiculous explanation.

And that was when she realized something.

"_You mean I've been down here chasing after when, this entire time, you were just playing a stupid game?!_"

* * *

_Fowl Manor, just after Holly left..._

Artemis made the slow journey to his room once Holly had left, determined to make sense of everything that he could. He was still weak and found himself occasionally leaning against the wall for support, and he had to wonder why he was so easily drained and exhausted.

He would have to ask Foaly, who seemed to have been in charge of growing this clone's body- and flaunting it every chance he got. Smiling to himself, Artemis entered his room and stood in the doorway, pushing those thoughts away for later.

What in here could help jog his memory? Artemis caught sight of a picture frame on the nightstand and decided to start there. If this was his room, then anything important enough for him to keep immortalized in a picture must surely mean something to him.

The picture was of two small children, about four or five years old each, playing in what appeared to be a laboratory with a teen watching them in the background. One of the children, he recognized as Oro from his dream, and the other appeared to be so similar to Oro they could have been twins. Oro himself was clinking two test tubes together and laughing, his hands covered in mud, while the twin was reaching out to try and pull the test tubes back.

The teen behind them was watching them with a small smile, the computer in his lap and the notebook at his side forgotten. Even if he was in the background, his mismatched eyes stood out- one blue, one gold. He wore a suit, his tie loosened, his crisp hair slightly ruffled, and appeared to be perfectly content to be distracted by little Oro and his twin playing on the floor.

Artemis frowned. _Wait a minute…_ He rubbed the dust off the glass frame with his sleeve and leaned closer to examine it.

Sure enough, his suspicions were confirmed- that was_ him._

The gold eye was different from the two blue ones he had seen in the mirror, but the rest of it was a perfect match. The only reason he hadn't realized it at first was because of the confident, self-assured manner he exuded in the picture, and how greatly it differed from the uncertain, guarded creature he had seen in the mirror earlier today. But it was definitely him. He almost envied the person watching the children play under the glass- it looked like he had a nice life, and friends, all things that he couldn't remember ever having himself.

Artemis stared at the picture for one long second before leaning back, thinking about the wealth of information contained in just that little moment in time frozen in his hands. It created a nice snapshot into his previous life and he categorized the information that could be gleamed from just that little picture.

His suspicions of Holly having one of his eyes were proven correct. In the picture, he appeared to have one of hers. He made a note to ask her about that in the future.

He appeared to be under no duress, and Oro appeared to be no evil warrior, like he was in his memories. Perhaps Holly had not been lying when she said that Bellico and Oro were nothing but spirits possessing bodies, and whoever Oro had taken really was just a harmless child.

He and the children appeared to be friends. Now that he thought about it, the little boy wasn't the only one who appeared to be Oro's victim's brother- he looked similar to the two boys as well. Same dark hair, same eyes. He could have twin younger brothers.

The Artemis in the picture did not appear to be much younger than he was now. Assuming that Foaly had made the clone the right age, that picture was not taken very long before his death.

All of that, as well as everything he had observed in the few short hours he had been- what, awake? Alive?- was only giving evidence that the others weren't lying. The clone explained why he no longer had one of Holly's eyes, why he had no scars or blemishes whatsoever, and why he had no muscle memory. It had taken him nearly five minutes to manage to button his shirt earlier, fingers shaky and uncertain, and he had cursed Foaly and the clone's lamentable body several times.

The clone theory was becoming more and more credible, and Artemis found himself being slowly convinced that what these people were telling him was the truth.

Shaking his head at how ludicrous the idea sounded in his head, Artemis put the picture back and rose to look around the room for anything else that he might remember, or that could at least give him more information. The room was surprisingly plain, with little in the way of pictures or individual style. A wooden desk did sit in the corner, though, and Artemis walked to it and tried the drawer. It was locked, but there seemed to be no place in which to put a key.

Frowning, he felt the wood with his hands, searching for some hidden button to push that might unlock it. Instead, his hand brushed against something smooth and warm that was certainly _not_ wood. He inspected it further, when suddenly there was a click- this time, when he tried to open the drawer, it was unlocked. Artemis ducked under the desk to examine whatever it was he had done and discovered a smooth, plastic panel about the size of his thumb.

"Must be a fingerprint scanner," he mused aloud. "I wonder, what do I have to be so paranoid about…"

Inside the desk was nothing but a small laptop. Artemis pulled it out and turned it on, only to be confronted with a log in screen that was not in English- or any human language. The keys on the keyboard weren't English characters either- but Artemis found he could understand them. "Gnomish. They must be Gnomish characters." _Wait, how do I know that?_

As he did not have any idea at what his password would be, Artemis shut the laptop and turned back to examine the room, yet there was nothing else of interest. If he had the time, he was sure he could find a wealth of hidden and fascinating objects just hidden away and waiting for his discovery, but, today, he was looking for immediate answers.

"Must you always disappear like that?"

Artemis jumped, whirling around to see Butler standing in the doorway. His approach had been utterly silent; Artemis hadn't heard a thing. "God," he muttered, standing. "Am I really so unobservant that you managed to get all the way up here without me noticing?"

Butler laughed. "Hardly. I'm just more skilled than you are at stealth. Several skills such as coordination and athleticism are required, skills which you seem to particularly deficient in."

"I am not. Just because this clone appears to have no ability for anything remotely taxing and physical doesn't mean that I-"

"Artemis, even before all of this, you weren't destined for a football scholarship. Clone or no clone, it seems you traded in the physical abilities for the mental. However, your rather depressing physical strengths aside, I did come looking for you for a reason."

Artemis saw an uncertainty in Butlers eyes and could tell where this was headed. He shook his head and averted his eyes. "I apologize for the way I treated your sister. I believed she and Bellico were one and the same and acted as such. Perhaps I could have acted with a little more tact, but, at that time, I was more concerned with Bellico trying to attack Holly or myself."

The look on Butler's face told him that this was all news to him. "B- Bellico?" he stammered. "You remember her?"

"Her, Oro, and Opal. Holly informed me that Bellico and Oro were nothing but spirits possessing Juliet and Beckett, I believe she called him." Artemis retrieved the picture and showed it to Butler. "This is him, correct?"

Butler nodded silently. He recognized the picture as one that Angeline had taken when the twins had been playing together in Artemis's lab. The only reason the genius hadn't known his mother was there was because he'd been temporarily deafened in a laboratory accident earlier in the day and hadn't been able to hear her approach, though you couldn't tell as such in the picture. In the picture, it almost appeared like the Fowls were just a normal, content family; none of the violence and death and suffering was visible. It was enviable, perhaps, but Butler knew Artemis wouldn't trade his current life for a normal one- because, even after everything he had lost, he had still gained more.

"I'm assuming that Beckett has a twin- the one in the picture? And they appear similar to me. Are they my brothers?"

"Yes. They're five years old now- Myles and Beckett. They were both possessed that night." Butler watched Artemis's eyes for any sign of recognition, but there was none.

"I have brothers," he said softly, tasting how the words felt in his mouth. "I have two brothers." He coughed, suddenly almost overwhelmed, and set the picture back in its place, face down. He headed to the door, determined to try and jog his memory elsewhere. The knowledge that he had brothers that he couldn't remember wasn't exactly easy on his conscience, and he didn't want to know what other family members might be uncovered if he stayed in this room.

"Tell me how old I was when that picture was taken," he demanded, satisfied that he kept his voice from shaking. "It looks like it happened only a few months before I…"

Butler nodded, not making him say the word out loud. "It was taken a little over six months before it happened. Foaly said that you're slightly older now, though; I'd put you at around sixteen."

Artemis nodded slightly and slowed his pace, running his hand along the cool wall. He still wanted to find some way in which to awaken his memory and turned in a full circle before his eyes settled on the closest door. It looked promising enough, and he didn't have much else to go on, at this point. He crossed to it and opened it, Butler still following behind him.

Inside the spacious room was a black grand piano and a laptop, with stacks of sheet music scattered across the top of the instrument. The walls appeared to be sound proof, and upon further inspection, he found the floor and ceiling to be as well. He turned back around to look at Butler, tapping the soundproof floor. "Is it me, or am I paranoid more than is healthy?"

"Both. You've played this piano since you were… four, I think. You had the room soundproofed almost immediately."

Artemis shook his head, meandering around the room to examine the sheet music before finally making his way back to the piano. "Was I at least any good?"

Butler laughed. "I don't think anyone heard you play until you were fourteen, almost five years ago. By then, you were phenomenal. You compose music as well, but don't ask me for a critique; I'm no professor. You still hardly let anyone hear you play before you got sick. After that, you wouldn't let so much as a fly in here."

"Bloody hell. I sound like a real piece of work."

"You are."

They both chuckled, then something Butler had said before finally registered with Artemis. "'Got sick?'" he repeated in confusion. "What do you mean, 'got sick'?"

Butler shook his head tersely. "It was a little over a year ago. The fairies call it 'Atlantis Complex'; I never quite understood it. Paranoia, multiple personalities, and an obsession with numbers- took you six months with one of the fairy's best doctors to beat that thing. Four, four, four, four." He shook his head again. "Never knew the world's greatest criminal mastermind could be so scared by a number."

"Every answer you give only results in more questions, on my part. And much of this timeline isn't adding up. There seems to be a deficit of three years in both yours and Holly's answers about my past. I'd understand six months; that's how long I've been… _gone_ for, but three years?"

Realizing that talking Artemis through his life backwards wasn't going to do any good, Butler gestured for him to follow him out of the room. "I can explain that, though Foaly could probably do so better. But this is a long story, Artemis. I'll fix us some tea; it's going to take a good few hours."

Artemis chuckled without humor. "From what I've heard so far, it may take longer then that."

* * *

Artemis sat across from Butler, gripping a warm cup of tea between his cold hands, and listened silently as Butler told him everything, starting from when he was twelve. He rarely interrupted to ask a question, mostly listened impassively and watching him in silence. His expression remained guarded and stoic, and he occasionally sipped his drink, listening to fantastical tales of fairies and kidnappings, demons and time travel, insane pixies and his old aversion to the number four and affinity for the number five. The information would have been mind boggling for any normal person, and being told the story of the past four years of his life in several hours wasn't easy for him to process, but he did so, nursing a steadily growing headache and nausea the entire time.

Butler didn't know all the details that Artemis was interested in. He didn't know what exactly he and Holly had done to escape the trolls in the old theme park, or what had happened in Limbo, or the specifics of his travel back in time with Holly. He couldn't answer any of his questions about Atlantis Complex and couldn't tell him anything about how his clone had been grown and had a difficult time explaining the mechanics of the Berserker Gate that had been so important in Artemis's rebirth.

Nevertheless, after several long hours filled with Butler's voice, Artemis finally had a sense of what was going on. They sat in silence for several long moments, tea long since gone cold, bodyguard waiting for the charge to say something.

"Well," Artemis eventually said. "That is _quite_ a story."

"Do you remember any of it?"

He shook his head, leaning back in his chair, his eyes glazing over. "I don't know," he stated truthfully, one of the few times in his life when he really _didn't _know. "Some of the things you've told me, I think I can remember. I do have _some _faint recollection of. But, for the majority, I recall nothing. However, everything you've told me does fit into the ludicrous theory of my death and rebirth." It was difficult for Artemis to say the words 'my death' out loud; it was hard to believe that, just yesterday, he had barely even existed.

Butler nodded. "Not so ludicrous now, is it?"

"Perhaps not."

At the sound of distant voices, Butler stood, turning to attend to them. "Artemis, before I saw proof that fairies existed, I would've sworn you'd gone stark raving mad. I've learned to trust your plans, no matter how ridiculous they may seem."

"You're saying that I should trust my own plans."

Butler nodded. "Exactly." The voices grew louder, and he frowned as he was finally able to recognize them. "What are they doing here?" he asked, almost to himself. "They said they wouldn't be back until tonight!"

"Who?"

"Your parents." Butler sighed, sitting back down and gazing across the table at his young charge. This wasn't going to be easy for any of the parties involved, least of all Artemis, but it was an uncomfortable reunion that had to happen sooner or later. When Artemis's only response was to rub his eyes tiredly and sigh, Butler was tempted to put it off for later, but doubted that would do anyone any good. "Artemis, they don't know that you're alive. Your father only learned about fairies after you died."

Butler noticed Artemis's discomfort at the last two words, how he twitched slightly and his eyes hardened. He amended his statement quickly. "We only told him the truth about five months ago. There are some days when he believes it, but they are few and far in between. I think he's under the impression that he's gone insane, like your mother did after he disappeared."

Artemis looked doubtful. "And you suppose seeing me will help? I think that would simply add fuel to the fire. Normally, seeing a deceased son alive and well is the last step on the road to a padded cell."

"Well, we can't exactly just hide you away so he never sees you. You're just lucky that not many people know about what happened. Besides your immediate family, no one else has any idea. At least, no other humans."

Artemis hesitated. He didn't want to go through yet another painful meeting with people who he didn't remember asking him questions, searching for memories he didn't have. He still felt nauseous, his headache was worsening, and on top of that, he was beginning to feel faint. He almost didn't feel up to to meeting his parents, but Butler was right- this had to happen sooner or later, and sooner was always better.

"You're right," he finally conceded. "There is no way around this. But, I would appreciate it if you did not mention the temporary memory loss. There is no reason to trouble them with this, and it would be easier for them if they believe I can remember everything."

Butler grimaced but agreed. "Fine, Artemis. I'll go speak with them and tell them not to ask too many questions. Just stay here, Lazarus."

Artemis began to protest at the pseudonym, but Butler was already gone.

He began to reflect on everything he had learned in just these few hours. It was a lot of information to process, and he still had to consider the possibility that this was all some kind of scheme or plot. Butler, Holly, and Foaly could all be conspiring against him and lying, and even if he couldn't find falsehood in anything they had told him thus far, that didn't mean they were telling the truth.

_Well, if they are lying, _he thought,_ they could have picked a less ridiculous and complicated cover story. _They did have that in their favor.

He heard Butler talking just outside of the room and turned to face the closed door. He tried to stand but found his legs too weak to make it- and did he really feel this sick because he was just nervous? According to Butler, he'd accomplished many more grounding achievements and had no reason to be worried about meeting his parents again.

That still couldn't stave off the almost sickening feeling in his gut when Butler opened the door, his massive frame hiding the two behind him. Butler nodded reassuringly at him, his expression unreadable, then stepped aside.

The man looked rather like an older version of himself. He had the same black hair and blue eyes, even if his hair was crisp and short while Artemis's was still a little long. What struck him as odd was that he just as pale and unhealthily thin, but Artemis had the excuse of being fed intravenously and kept underground for entirety of this new body's life. What excuse did this man have?

The woman was less familiar. She was pale and slim as well, with long, dark brown hair and eyes, and bore more resemblance to the twins than she did him. She didn't look as if she had been sleeping recently, but the haunted look in her eyes did disappear the moment she laid eyes on him. She started, sucking in a gasp of air and freezing in her tracks, completely and utterly shocked.

His father ran into her, she stopped so suddenly, but the moment he saw Artemis, he froze as well. The blood drained from his face, and he gasped for breath for several short seconds before he actually passed out. He fell back against the wall, his eyes rolling back into his head as he slumped to the floor. Angeline didn't even look at him but, to her credit, she was still staring, transfixed, at her son.

Butler moved to Artemis Sr's side while Angeline remained rooted to the spot, her eyes wide with shock. It was disheartening that he found himself unable to recognize his own mother, but he still found himself trying to explain. "Hello, Mother," he said awkwardly, sincerely hoping he would be able to believably replicate his usual terms of endearment so as not to raise suspicion.

The still unfamiliar woman tried to speak several times, the words always dying in her throat. Finally, she managed to stammer, "Oh, g-god. It's you. It… is it really you?"

Artemis nodded and forced himself to smile convincingly. "Yes. It's me- your son." The words felt strange and insincere, but he was trying to fake warmth and emotion when he felt nothing. He didn't recognize this woman at all and felt nothing towards her.

Suddenly, as if she hit with a burst of energy, she ran forward and pulled him up out of the chair, smothering him in an embrace. "Oh, god, it's you. Butler told us, he always kept saying it wasn't true, but I never believed him until… god, Artemis!"

_"Oh, Artemis, is that you?"_

_Eleven year old Artemis nodded darkly, his shaking hands clasped behind his back. "Yes. It is me."_

_His bedridden mother clapped her hands together excitedly. "I knew you would be back someday, Artemis. We must talk about our son! He's so involved in work. I think," she whispered dramatically, "that he's doing illegal things. Like you used to, Timmy."_

_Artemis gritted his teeth and forced himself to nod. "We will talk about that, Mo… Angeline." As always, he wanted to yell at her that he wasn't Artemis Sr, that he was her _son_, and why couldn't she just do something about her husband's disappearance, like he was? Why did she have to lay up here all day and steadily lose her mind and refuse to see that her entire family wasn't gone? _

_Of course, he wasn't important enough to her for her to realize that. Her husband was clearly her entire world; he was just someone to carry on the family name, to her. Someone to take care of her needs when she was sick and to take care of the business behind her back. And yet, Artemis could never bring himself to hate her. Before his father's disappearance, both Fowls had positively adored Angeline. Now, while it made things a lot easier for her to be sick and unaware of his illegal ventures, it still hurt that he wasn't enough to stop her from losing her mind._

Grow up, Artemis,_ he thought. _You're the head of the Fowl empire, not a simpering child who yearns for parental affection. You have all the love you need in your work. Mother's illness will not turn you into a sap who begs his parents for attention.

_So, swallowing the lump in his throat, Artemis walked briskly forward, holding two pills in his hand with a small cup of water. "Yes, Angeline. We will talk about our son. But first, you must take these." He held out the pills and forced himself to smile at her. _

_"Of course, Timmy." She swallowed the pills without protest and stared lovingly up at him, with those wild, insane eyes that he had grown to both pity and hate. "I love you, Timmy."_

_Artemis trembled slightly, almost overcome with emotion. She wasn't talking to him. She was talking to her husband. "I love you, too… Angeline."_

_The scene of an insane mother and her broken son changed as Holly was added to the picture- and that made all the difference. His mother was suddenly standing and in her right mind, appearing to be stunned. Artemis was standing off to the side and smiling at her, the family no longer the shattered remains of what once was. Holly's presence seemed to make everything right again._

_"Everything he's said is true?"_

_Holly nodded with a broad smile. "It is. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Fowl."_

_Artemis stood back, watching as his mother and Holly finally met for the first time. After Opal's possession, he had told her everything, but he doubted she had really believed it until this moment. _

_His mother looked between Holly and Artemis, remaining silent until, suddenly, she just started laughing. "Oh my god. Fairies. It's all true. Fairies."_

_"Yes, but not the kind in story books."_

_Angeline shook her head and chuckled weakly. "From what Artemis has told me, you're the farthest thing from it. I suppose I should thank you for saving his life so many times."_

_Holly shared a look with Artemis as he moved to stand next to her. "He's saved mine as well, Mrs. Fowl. More than once. I'd say the favor is pretty much returned. Besides, it was my pleasure."_

_"So, Mother?" Artemis asked, smiling at both her and Holly. "Do you still think this is all nothing but a bizarre hallucination?"_

_"No, not even I could dream of something as ridiculous as this. I don't think I ever really believed it until now. God, Artemis. Oh, Holly! I must apologize- Artemis only kidnapped you because of me; because I was sick. He wouldn't have ever-"_

_"There's no need to apologize, Mrs. Fowl. I forgave Artemis long ago for that." She glanced at him and grinned. "Besides, I'm glad it happened. If it weren't for that, we never would met." _

"Mother," Artemis breathed, the rush of memories hitting him like a tsunami. He had already known, of course, that his mother had once been sick and that she had met Holly before- Butler had told him. But knowing it and remembering it were two very different things.

Suddenly, the woman whose arms were wrapped tightly around him _meant_ something to him. She had almost knocked him off his feet Artemis found himself leaning slightly on her for support, numb. He felt guilty for the pain he had obviously caused her and opened his mouth to apologize, but no words came out.

She clung to him tightly for at least a minute before slowly, almost reluctantly pulling back, still keeping a tight grip on his shoulders. "God, Artemis. It's you. You're alive."

He nodded slightly, taking in the now familiar features of her face and unable to hold back a smile. "Yes. It's me, Mother. I am alive."

Shaking her head, she embraced him for a moment again before moving back to look him in the eye, her hands still resting on his shoulders. "Artemis, how are you… god, is this real? How are you here? I_ saw_ you…"

"I had a plan," he said smugly. From what Butler had told him, it was true, but he remembered none of it. Relying off more of Butler's information, he continued, hoping he was saying the right things. "Of course I wouldn't embark on a suicide mission. I always have a plan."

"I know. I know you do. But, we saw you, lying there…" Shaking her head and wiping her eyes, Angeline pulled him to her again. "I thought you were dead," she whispered in his ear, her voice choked with unimaginable agony and tears.

"I was." _I was dead_. It was strange to think. Six months ago, he was dead.

His mother didn't seem to want- or even to be able to- let him go. She spoke in his ear again, trembling slightly. "Then _how?_ How are you here, how are you alive? I thought not even the fairies could…"

Artemis shook his head, unwilling to go into details and uncertain if his little knowledge of what happened would be able to hold up under any specific questions. "I had a few tricks up my sleeve."

Artemis heard his father stirring from behind him, as did Angeline, who released him and turned around to face her husband, still keeping an arm wrapped tightly around his shoulders. Butler was kneeling on the floor beside Artemis Sr, a large hand shaking his shoulder, and the man was beginning to wake up. Artemis examined him curiously, but he could remember nothing about his father.

Artemis Sr's eyes fluttered open to stare straight at his son. Steeling himself, Artemis held his father's gaze without blinking, with eyes that betrayed no emotion. The man paled instantly, but at least he didn't faint again. Shaking off Butler's help, he rose and walked forward. Unlike Angeline, he didn't hesitate or stumble, just moved to him and wrapped his arms around him.

Trapped in his parents' arms, Artemis closed his eyes, fighting to remember. He fought to remember his family, Foaly, Butler, and Holly, fought to clear the haze surrounding his past life, the weight of the clouds blurring his memories almost crippling. But he remembered nothing.

Butler stood back, watching the broken family finally reunite after six long, lonely months filled with pain and suffering. The parents clung to each other and their son, Artemis seeming small and uncertain in their grip. There were many unanswered questions that were not far off, and the family would have to deal with the many painful realities left by Artemis's death and rebirth. However, for now, there was none of that. As when they had first discovered Artemis's body, his parents did nothing, said nothing- they simply remained still and absorbed the new knowledge that would change their lives.


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you all for reviewing! I would proofread again, but comcast is suspiciously slow and after the week I've had, I wouldn't be surprised if it quit on me, so... here we go! Anyway, okay… the final flashback isn't strictly canon, from what we were told of the Berserkers… but I couldn't stop. It's a little weird, but I hope you like it. It is, by far, the most abstract thing I have ever written. I also wrote the Latin myself and am in my fifth year of classes, but am by no means perfect; if anyone of you out there spots a mistake, please don't hesitate to tell me. I also tried to put Artemis into the vocative and hope I succeeded, but my Greek is less developed. The Latin translates, as follows, in order of appearance: Gold is power, Angeline, not music is power._ Music is the journey to love. _Why are you here? _In Latin, Artemis. _I was look… look… look-ing for Butler. _That is incorrect, Artemis. Dative, not accusative. _Looking (in dative case, not accusative)? _Almost. Looking (questions particle) is better. I must speak with your tutor… _I speak Latin well enough now, Father.

Artemis had only finally been able to escape the presence of his parents when Butler had noticed his signs of exhaustion and insisted that he needed to rest. The idea of being alone was rather enticing- the only reason Artemis hadn't protested- and now, with the promise of answering all questions tomorrow morning, he was lying in bed, unable to sleep.

Finally, after tossing and turning for almost an hour, he decided sleep was a hopeless venture. He had too much on his mind, and he was much too interested in trying to regain his memory than to waste time in bed.

With the house dark, Artemis now relied on his memory of earlier today to find what he was looking for. It wasn't hard in the slightest, but when he was finally in the soundproof room with the piano again, he found himself hesitating.

Logically, he knew that, even if his memories were intact, he still would be unable to play the piano. This was still a clone's body, and muscle memory wasn't in DNA. His hands wouldn't be able to find the right notes or play the right phrases; it had been difficult just to button his shirt. He already knew that and wasn't expecting anything different, nor did he fully understand why it bothered him so much. It was just temporary- and, even if it wasn't, did it matter? It was just an instrument. It meant nothing.

Perhaps, it wasn't just the piano- it was what it represented. It represented his entire life that he couldn't remember, the strip of white and black keys just as confusing and unyielding as his memories. Artemis hesitantly lay his hand on the keys, gently running it down the long line of ebony, tracing around the black. It was unfamiliar to him, just like Holly and Butler and his family.

He sighed. Psychologically speaking, it would be very unhealthy for him to continue with this foolhardy venture and try to play this instrument when he already knew he was physically unable to do so, especially when he was equating the piano with his memories. It would do nothing but cause harm.

Artemis still slowly pushed down on one of the keys, managing, for the time being, to silence his doubts. The low sound emanated from the piano, fading away into silence while he waited, almost expecting something to happen. He pressed another key, with similar results. No rush of memories. No sudden epiphany. No earth-shattering moment when he finally remembered who all his friends are.

Hitting the key accomplished nothing more than a faint tingling in his hand, almost like he was beginning to recall fifteen years worth of playing habits set while playing the instrument. His muscle memory was still gone, as he knew it would be, but he was beginning to remember. Excited, Artemis sat down on the bench and rested both hands on the keys, hesitantly beginning to move his right one up the keyboard, softly singing the names of the notes allowed.

"C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C," he murmured, his voice rising in pitch with the scale. His hand hesitated, and he closed his eyes.

_"Angeline, he is a Fowl!" Artemis Sr cried, exasperated. "Fowls do not need to know anything as immaterial and worthless as playing the piano. Some day, he will head the Fowl empire. He should be taking Latin classes, or watching the stock market, or studying the speech tactics of Cicero and other great orators. That will be his path to furthering the worth of the Fowl fortune. Aurum est potestas, Angeline, not 'musica est potestas." _

_Angeline shook over head unhappily. "He's four, Artemis. He's just four. Don't you think you can at least wait until he's older before grooming him to take over the family business? Which, by the way, I will not allow unless it is entirely legal. And I don't care about power! That's not why I want him to do this!"_

_"Musica iter ad amorem est, then?"_

_Angeline threw her head back against the wall. "Artemis, no. I love you, but this is ridiculous. Our son is only four years old! There is nothing wrong with him learning to play an instrument!"_

_"There is if it distracts him from his future role as the head-"_

_"Will you stop with that? His only role in life is not to take over once you retire! He has a right to grow up like a regular child without being pressured into growing up just like you did. ...You're not honestly telling me that you're glad your parents were as cold and heartless as they were, are you?"_

_Artemis Sr sighed heavily. "Without them, I would not be as successful as I am today. But… if it does not distract him… I will permit it."_

_Angeline glared at him, not at all pleased by his surly response and shaking her head angrily. "I only wish you would permit him to have a regular childhood." _

_Artemis Jr, hiding in the shadow by the door, pulled back and leaned back against the wall. When he heard his father's footsteps, he darted down the hall, determined to remain undiscovered. A loud, booming voice called out from behind him, interrupting his escape. "Artemis!"_

_He flinched. Turning around, he looked up at his father, who was approaching him, his cold, dark eyes narrow. _

_"Cur tu hunc sunt?" _

_Artemis frowned, trying to interpret the meaning of the Latin sentence. His father had recently gotten in the habit of speaking Latin to him, believing that it was the language of the sophisticated and the educated and that the sooner he learned it, the better. Hoping he had translated it correctly, he answered, "I was-"_

_"In Latinā, Artemis."_

_"Ego erat spec… spec… spec-tan-dum nam Butler."_

_Artemis Sr sighed, disappointed. "Ille conruptum est, Artemis. Dative, non accusative."_

_"Spectando?" he asked hopefully._

_He still seemed disappointed, but nodded anyway. "Paene. Spectando_ne_, Artemis, est melium. Loquendum sum cum te magistro…" _

_Artemis watched his father's retreating back and bit his lip. He could tell that he was unhappy with his progress and vowed to study harder. He wasn't going to continue to be a disappointment. Perhaps, if he studied harder, he could please both his mother and his father, and maybe then, they would stop fighting._

Artemis opened his eyes and let his breath out, reeling from the sudden rush of insecurity and uncertainty. Now that he could recall something about his father, he had to stifle a hint of anger. "Loquor Latinam bonum satis nunc, Pater," he muttered under his breath, then shook his head at the foolishness of the statement. In that memory, he was four years old- that was almost sixteen years ago. He should not be angry over something that happened so long ago, and there was no reason for him to act as if his father hadn't changed in at least ten years.

He began to try and play the piano again, attempting to get his mind off the memory. His hands were slow and uncertain, and it was challenging work, the perfect task to occupy both his hands and his mind. Without any memory, he had to rely on his ears alone, and with hands unaccustomed to movement, his fingers quickly grew so sore he could barely play more than an octave. Nevertheless, he persisted, working until it was nearly two in the morning.

By this point, he was now fighting sleep and had only meager progress to show for his efforts. When he actually cut his thumb on the keys in an attempt to perform a measly sixteenth note run, Artemis decided that it wasn't worth it. As the night wore on, he had only felt sicker and sicker, his exhaustion was continuously growing worse, and now, his thumb was bleeding. Perhaps it really was time for him to get some rest.

_All in all, a productive day,_ he though on his way back to him room. A few memories regained, a few reunions done with, and a resurrection successfully completed. Even for a genius, that was certainly an accomplishment.

Artemis stumbled back to his bed, still a little unsteady on his feet, and practically collapsed. He closed his eyes, almost asleep before he hit the pillow.

_A million and one consciousness brushed up against him, begging for his attention, calling out to him with so many pained cries that it suffocated him. There was a rush of screams, pouring over him like a thousand water droplets in the storm of a hurricane, most falling down his form like liquid seeping down the warm petals of a flower in the rainforest. They fell back to the crowd swarming around and below and above him, calling for his attention again and pressing down on him, almost like he was a limp body being crushed by a rockslide._

_The waves tugged him down, and he coughed and sputtered, kicking weakly and fighting to get his head above the water. They screamed at him constantly, the voices rising to climax when he had just about gotten his head above the surface and he found himself being pummeled back down to the rock bottom of the sea._

_Above the rising and falling screams of this tortuous reality, he could feel a powerful force, almost like a gravitational pull, easing him back, and back, and back... The further he gave himself over to it, the softer the voices grew, until they seemed to be nothing more than a whisper wetting his toes and his fingers. The faint calls, so infinitely preferable to the screams, were still calling him to return, but the more he allowed himself to drift to the pull begging for him to let go, the more he realized that he did not belong in this frigid hell. The light behind him was soft and warm, almost like a gently crackling fire in the wake of a storm._

_Releasing his grip on the thrashing sea, he fell back into the warmth and peace. It embraced him, the cries barely audible now, and he was just about to let go when he remembered something._

_No tangible memory. No facts that he could explain. Just a feeling- an undeniable feeling that his place was back in the sea of torture and pain. His place was in that labyrinth of darkness, not in this world of light._

_It took all of the willpower and strength he had to shake off the calming grip of the light and strive to the sea again. With every struggling move he made, the screams grew louder, the pain grew worse, and the light from behind called louder for him again. It screamed and begged and told him that his place wasn't in this unearthly hell- but he fought. He fought harder than he had ever fought in his short existence on this ethereal plane, shaking off the last tendrils of the comfort and immersing himself in the icy ocean of screams._

_The ghostly chorus welcomed him back with open arms, a thousand waving limbs fighting for his attention like a tentacled monster, and he choked back water, drowning in the screams and the waves as the torture of their pained yells began again. The light shone from behind him, stronger than ever, but his place was in this ocean. He knew that, even if he knew nothing else. _

_There was no time, in this dark world of never-ending screams in the tossing sea of nightmare. He could have been caught up in the waves of agony for as short as a second or for as long as a billion years; he didn't know, but he did know that every moment in this hellish universe was killing him. He was encased in black ice from this coldest of seas, though this did nothing to numb him- he hovered in that perpetual state of burning when one runs out barefoot over the snow, on fire and in ice, all at once. He floated in the paradoxical pain for what must have been eternity before one of the screams suddenly wasn't just a scream._

_In the chorus, melody, and harmony of pain, there was a voice that stood out, that begged him to listen almost a little harder than all the others. In this world, there was no solo, but that didn't stop this one from trying. Words were not discernible; he could tell the screamer's message by its own special brand of torture. The sea of darkness was no longer as black as night. There was a flickering candle of light in the midst of the smothering waves and pounding rain, and it moved closer to him, screaming at him without ceasing. This was a voice of fire, of passion, and suddenly, he knew- it was his reason for staying._

_It cried and sobbed and begged and yelled, the sea growing more turbulent, tossing his broken form to and fro, but the voice wouldn't quiet. The light from behind, warm and comforting, rivaled the light in front of him, glowing harshly and screaming at him to stay. Stay stay stay stay stay stay stay, it yelled. Stay stay stay. _

_The scream did not rise and fall, like the others. It grew ever louder, earning a stranglehold on his psyche and throwing him through the endless torture the likes of which he had never known. When compared to this one cry, the chorus of pain was nothing. This voice, he knew. This voice's pain screamed and screamed at him, cracking the ice, fueling the fire, bending him over backwards in agony. In no physical form, he still contorted into positions not thought possible, the voice forming chains of burning fire around his nonexistent limbs as he cried out in agony. _

_Nothing was worth this. He tried to let go again, to fade into the blissful nothingness that was the light, but the voice rose in intensity, the flames tightening around him and holding him fast. The scream surrounded him, blocking out everything else in a realm of pain until he stopped trying to flee. The fire loosened its grip and the voice fell, though it was still unbearable in its demands. Vibrato echoed through the piercing tones like it was the string of a violin and suddenly, it wasn't just one voice. It was a multitude, another choir to stand out against the sea of screams, all seeming to exist in this world for the sole purpose of freezing him and trapping him forever in this ocean and forbidding him from the peace of the light._

_No, he begs in a dimensionless voice that none can hear. No, please. I want to go home. No more. Please._

_The voices do not relent. They trap him in bands of steel and fire, ordering him under the solid crack of a whip to remain in this ocean of agony. This is your home, they say. You belong with us._

_The voice that is the flame screams to him, but this new chorus, these new voices, they create solos in the roiling turbulence of the yells. One is a mountain of rock, the elemental of earth embodied in a sound, unmoving and unyielding, unimaginably strong and an unbreakable shield. Another is a stream of water, one that was once frozen like a glacier but has melted and rushes down over new life, flowing over the bodies that it once killed in its freeze, now ignored. Still another is the harsh, unforgiving wind of nature, a blind judge in matters of right and wrong, yet able to provide the warmest and softest of comforts, if need be._

_The four voices, fire, earth, water, and wind, they scream to him, telling him he belongs here. He doesn't, though, he doesn't, he belongs in the warm light at his back. Even at this very thought, though, the bands keeping him trapped here tighten unbearably, the lamenting spirits crying out for him to remain. They sob and cry at his wish to leave, their screams of agony eclipsing even this sea of pain, and he is helpless to resist their desires. He tosses and turns in this endless ocean, fire, earth, water, and wind screaming for him to stay whenever he tries to drift away. Yet the fire- the fire is different._

_Earth and Water and Wind, they sing to him, they scream to him, but Fire- it screams to him and expects an answer. That voice of Fire, the voice of the fair maiden who screams for him to stay, she expects him to reply. I'm trying, he tries to tell her. Please, leave, please. Stop this. I'm trying. Can't you hear me? Stop! _

_Fire wails, Earth, Water, and Wind lamenting in harmony to her miserable cry, begging him to remain. Stay, they cry, stay. Stay, child. _

_He doesn't want to stay. He wants to give in and fall back into the world of nothing. But the voices scream again, their hold on him tightening, the tortuous pain growing until it eclipsed his entire world. It is only when he relents that the chorus falls, Fire's solo ordering him to remain in the sea, Earth, Water, and Wind guarding his every move. The torture does not end. The chorus of ghostly sighs he first felt in this realm do not relax in their intensity; rather, Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind sing louder than they do. The light's pull has still not lessened, and he is certain he could break free of his torturers if only he could reach out to it, but his hold in this sea is strong. He can not let go._

_The laments of the elements continue, their agonized victim falling into a restless lull of never ending torture._

That is when Artemis awakens with a scream.


	17. Chapter 17

Thank you all for reviewing! God, I am so sorry for any typos... I am a very sleep deprived girl. If I keep this up much longer, AP Physics is going to kill me. Four hours on a fucking extra problem that we couldn't even do because we're rusty on derivatives. *sigh* I've had the most miserable past week and day, guys. I don't like begging for reviews, but... please cheer me up. Little scene in Time Paradox from here that I took dialogue from. Yes... it's THE SCENE you're thinking of...

He can't breathe. His chest is tight and he finds himself gasping, fighting for breath above the black sea of his torturers, the screams still echoing in his ears. He scrambles out of bed, desperate to move and escape, running for his life from the elementals of pain. Still weak on his feet, he trips and falls several times before he makes it to the bathroom, still coughing and hacking, his breath coming in short, panicked gasps.

The sweaty, terrified boy in the mirror stares back at him, eyes wide in fear, his chest heaving. _Just a dream, just a dream,_ he tells himself, reaching out with a shaking hand to turn on the sink.

_Black sea yells and screams Fire Earth Water Wind stay stay stay_

Artemis throws himself back with a yell, shutting off the flow of water before it reaches him with its snake-like tendrils to drag him back under the surface.

Safe from the sea, he tries to flee to the safe ground of rational thought. There is a logical explanation for this, he just must think. That is what he's best at. He just must think.

_Icy ocean calming light fire fire fire pain agony torture _

His stomach flips, and he finds himself collapsed on the floor, dry heaving. If there was anything in his stomach, he probably would have vomited; as it was, he finally fell against the floor, breathing hard, resting against the cool tile, allowing it to bring him back to reality.

"Think," he murmurs aloud. "Think." He pushes himself upright, still shaking, and struggled to his feet, staring at his reflection and fighting to slow his breaths down to something controllable.

In the glass is a trembling teen, his black hair disheveled, his skin sickly pale, ebony locks stuck to his sweaty skin. His eyes are dilated and his shaking fingers find his own wrist, measuring his pulse. It's far too fast to be considered normal.

_Think,_ he tells himself,_ think. You can do this._ Quickly, he compiles a list of symptoms and, almost as fast, has an answer.

"Withdrawal," he says out loud, because his thoughts are still a jumbled mess and talking is helping to calm himself down. "Withdrawal. Of course. I would have needed steroids to grow this quickly. I'm not on the medication anymore. Ergo, withdrawal. Explains the chills, fatigue, nausea, and fever, which could explain the nightmare."

There. Mystery solved.

His frantic breaths began to slow, the terror slowly draining away from his eyes. The reflection in the mirror slowly becomes more relaxed and normal as the tension begins to vanish, leaving him standing there, feeling slightly ridiculous. This was his reaction to a dream? After the dangerous situations Butler had told him he'd been through, he really couldn't handle a_ dream?_

Shaking his head, Artemis stumbled back to his bed to draw a thin blanket around his still shivering shoulders. Six months of intensive drug use was sure to leave him with severe symptoms of withdrawal for weeks or even months, and while it certainly explained why he felt sick yesterday, it still didn't make him look forward to the painful weeks to come.

Now that he was finally fully awake and calm, Artemis was able to plan for the day ahead. He had to successfully manage to put up the facade he remembered everything around his parents, he had to explain to them just why he was back when, by all rights, he should be dead. He probably would have to meet his five year old brothers and explain it to them, as well. He should apologize to Juliet for mistaking her for Bellico. He'd like to talk with Foaly to see what else he didn't know about this clone business and if he could do anything for the withdrawal symptoms.

And, of course, there was Holly.

The fiery, passionate little elf was something else. She'd seemed more affected by the others than his memory loss and, according to Butler, they had been close friends for nearly seven years. For a relationship that had begun through a kidnapping, it certainly was peculiar that she now seemed to be the closet thing he had to a friend. She had even seemed the most worried about him. Foaly had appeared to be concerned for his clinical and physical well being, Butler had been too shocked and thrilled to be worried, but she had been the only one to promise that all his memories would come back, with time.

Perhaps, the reason he felt drawn to her was because she had all that was left of his original body- his eye. Ironic, surely, that the eye was the reason he had died, but she had the only piece of himself left. His original body had most likely already begun to decay underground and all that was left was his eye. Gruesome, to be sure, but without his memories, the physical was all he had.

"Artemis?"

_Earth. The elemental of Earth embodied in the voice of the torturer, keeping him here and trapping him here and it hurts so much he wouldn't be able to breathe if he had lungs-_

Artemis spun around, his hands curling into fists as he took a panicked step back. Butler was standing in the doorway to his room, his expression calm and expectant, with no hint of intent to cause harm, but surprise flitted across his face the moment he saw Artemis's reaction to his presence.

Artemis remained still for several moments, fighting the rising panic and dealing with it as logically as he could, but when Butler made no move against him and his voice brought no pain, he was left only with confusion. Why did his voice seem so familiar with the one from his dream?

"Artemis, what's going on? It's just me. …You do remember me, right?"

Once again, nothing. No pain at the sound of his voice. No endless torture that made his veins burn like fire. Nothing.

Artemis gave a terse nod to his question, trying to understand why Butler so inherently reminded him of the voice in the dream- and that was when it hit him.

It wasn't _just_ dream. It was a flashback. It was a flashback of what he must have gone through after he'd died.

_Of course! It all makes sense now!_ The other voices in his dream, they were the other spirits, the other souls of the world. The physical and spiritual realms, they existed together, not separate. Without a physical form, he simply experienced everything in this world through his spirit. He must have been feeling all of the other consciousnesses in the world, and without being limited by his location, he had felt them _all_. And, after the catastrophe less than twenty four hours before his death, it was no wonder they had all seemed to be in such pain. And, whatever emotional pain they had felt, he seemed to have experienced as physical agony.

The light. It must have been _the light _that dying people all claimed they could see. Artemis had never believed it truly existed, siding with science and saying the visions of lights and pearly gates were simply a result of the brain releasing endorphins as the body died. But he had actually _felt_ its inescapable pull and power; it was no wonder there hadn't been any other ghosts with him in that realm. Many had come, and just as many had been drawn to the light so quickly he could've sworn he'd imagined them.

Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind. Those spirits had stood out to him because he _recognized_ them. Earth… Butler.

Artemis's epiphany left him light headed and he actually gasped, stumbling back as he turned back to stare at Butler, amazed. He struggled to speak for several moments before finally saying the first two words that came to mind.

"Thank you."

Butler raised his eyebrows, stepping hesitantly forward and looking around the room, almost as if he expected to see the reason for his charge's strange behavior. All he had seen was Artemis turn and react like he would towards an enemy, then he stumbled back and gasped in shock, and now he was thanking him. Even for Artemis, this was odd behavior.

"For what?" he asked slowly, further confused when Artemis simply smiled.

"For saving my life."

Butler shook his head, still uncertain as to what he was referring to. "Artemis, I don't-"

Artemis held up his hand to stop him, still smiling. He struggled to find the words necessary to convey his level of gratitude, but there were none. He couldn't thank this man enough for being one of the four reasons he was alive instead of dead. "No, let me say this. Butler, I remember some of what happened after I… died."

Once he had recovered from the initial shock, Butler immediately walked towards Artemis, sitting down next to him and watching him in concern. "Oh my god. What… what was it like? I mean- were you aware, or…"

Stifling his immediate answer- _pain_- Artemis shook his head, instead, giving him the paraphrased story. There was no need for Butler or anyone else to know how much their pain had hurt him, only that it was all that had kept him anchored to this world. "No. I was not aware; at least, not what you might be imaging. As I'm sure you have guessed, I was nothing like the ghosts you see in horror movies. I could sense other spirits, though- one of them was yours."

Butler's eyes widened. "What? W-why didn't you say anything until now?"

"I didn't realize until just a moment ago who you were. I do think that you should at least know that, if it hadn't been for you and… the others, I would have let go long before the clone was ready. It was because of you that I had the willpower and strength of mind to remain."

"But I didn't even know about the clone until yesterday… how could it be because of me?"

Artemis shook his head, struggling to turn the emotional turmoil of the spiritual realm into words. "I could sense you, in a way. I could tell that you and the others… missed me, I suppose. You helped me remember what I was hanging on for."

Butler looked away and smiled broadly, though he seemed slightly saddened by Artemis's explanation. "I never stopped believing you were alive. I knew that you had a plan."

"And I thank you for that. …It may be one of the reasons I could sense you so well; relatively, of course. Regardless… you have my gratitude."

Butler shook his head, resting a hand on his shoulder. "No, don't say that. You've always been my responsibility to protect, and I certainly don't do it because I'm looking for 'gratitude'." He shook his head again, turning and smiling once more. "The important thing is that you're back now."

"Yes. And that is how I plan to stay." Shivering again, Artemis peered around Butler's monstrous form to the empty doorway, uncomfortable with this discussion. He may be grateful to Butler for all that he had done, but that certainly didn't mean he enjoyed continuing to think back to that world of agony. "So," he began, clearing his throat, "what's on the agenda for today? I assume my parents have questions."

"They do. I can explain what happened, if you'd like-"

"No. This should come from me." With a heavy, resigned sigh, he made to walk past Butler to the door, his hand brushing against his bodyguard's on the way.

"Artemis!" Butler exclaimed, grabbing his shoulder before he could get any farther. "Artemis, you're burning up!" He rested the back of his hand against his forehead before pulling back in shock. "You have a fever."

He was surprised when Artemis simply shook his head unhappily. "I am aware of this. It is nothing to be concerned with- rather, it is actually something I should have anticipated and expected. The clone is going into withdrawal. Foaly, you see, must have used numerous steroids to grow it so quickly- after six months, my clone's body is accustomed to the drugs and actually believes it needs them. I've been experiencing withdrawal symptoms ever since last night."

"Why didn't you say something before?" He felt Artemis's fever again before frowning. "The fairies could do something, or we may need to call a human doctor for-"

"No, don't. Without knowing the exact medications Foaly used on me- or, rather, the clone- no human could help, and there is no reason to pull the fairies up from miles underground to simply help with a little discomfort. In any case, I doubt there is much the fairies could do. I will be fine, Butler. Withdrawal from steroids is nowhere near as severe as the symptoms I'm sure you are picturing- that is, withdrawal from alcohol or opioids. Unless Foaly thought it was wise to treat my clone to a bachelor party every night, the symptoms will hardly be noticeable."

Butler looked at him doubtfully. It was true, he didn't _look_ awful or sick, but he couldn't help but worry. It was quite common for Artemis to ignore the fact that he was ill and continue to work just as hard as ever; once, when he was ten, he'd managed to turn a simple case of the common cold into pneumonia because he was too busy searching for his father to rest. He was tempted to call Holly and tell her what was going on, but Artemis didn't seem to be very concerned, and Holly and Foaly had both promised they were returning later today.

"Fine," he relented. "For now, Artemis. We'll see what Foaly has to say tonight."

Artemis sighed, but knew it was the best he was going to get. "Understood." He turned away to head towards the door, then groaned when his hair fell in his eyes again. "D'Arvit!" he exclaimed, more by reflex than anything else, then blinked when he realized what he had just said. "Butler? What does that word mean?"

Butler chuckled. "That, I don't know. I think it's a fairy swear word. Seems to be more efficient than the long lists of ours; 'D'Arvit' is jack of all trades, for them. I've never asked for a direct translation and I don't think I want to, either."

"Ah. Well, while linguistics is certainly interesting, it doesn't help this blasted haircut. What possessed me to keep my hair long- or was this Foaly's oversight?"

"Foaly, definitely Foaly. I'm honestly surprised you haven't complained until now; you look like bloody Tarzan."

Artemis grimaced at his bodyguard's smirk and blew a long strand of hair out of his eyes. "Well, unless I pick fruit from trees and swing on vines, I think I need to look less like a teenager's sad attempt to appear 'cool' and more respectable."

"Come on, then. I'll take responsibility for salvaging that mess of a haircut." Butler guided him to the door, and Artemis couldn't help but flinch when at his bodyguard's touch."You all right?" he asked, concerned.

"Withdrawal," he lied, as a way of explanation. He was relieved when Butler accepted that as the truth, because Artemis wasn't interested in giving him the _real_ reason for why he couldn't stand his touch- that, no matter what he _said_, Butler still reminded him of Earth and he couldn't help but fear the pain from Limbo returning. It was nothing but an instinctual fear that he was sure would fade with time, but that didn't stop him from mentally preparing to be assaulted by that unbearable agony once again.

* * *

Artemis stood in the foyer, waiting for Holly and Foaly to return, as they had promised they would. Butler had promised to take him to meet the twins tonight and was off waking his parents, leaving him to await the arrival of the fairies.

"What happened to your hair?"

_Wind screams, Wind traps him from the light, Wind tortures, Wind-_

Artemis slowly turns to see his parents standing behind him, both smiling, his mother waiting for the answer. _She's Wind_, he realizes. _His mother is Wind_.

And she terrifies him, but logic trumps fear- or, at least, it should. Now that he understands the situation, he can at least pretend not to fear her.

"Butler cut it for me. The fairies got a little carried away, it seems, and they weren't exactly concerned with my physical appearance."

His mother smiles broadly, while his father shook his head, grinning himself. "Fairies? So, I'm not insane, then? These fairies are real?"

_Water. Water freezing, Water drowning, Water torturing, Water-_

This time, his voice trembles a little when he manages to speak. "Yes. I do apologize for keeping them secret from you, but it was of the utmost importance."

Thankfully, neither of his parents seem to notice his fear as his father shakes his head. "No… I don't care about that now. We're both just glad that you're…"

"Alive. Home. Safe." His mother moved forward, placing her hands on his shoulders, her warm eyes filling with tears- Artemis almost expected her grip to burn his skin. It didn't, though, and he felt his anxiety calm slightly. The elementals' intentions had not been to hurt- rather, they had been trying to keep him alive. If the great measure of agony their screams had put him through were any indication of how much they cared for him, as was his theory, then he should be grateful instead of fearful.

"Artemis, how… how are here? How are you alive?" She reached up and tapped his left cheek, her tear-filled eyes confused. "What happened to Holly's eye? …I don't understand."

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, all of you. If there had been any other way, I wouldn't have let this happen."

"I have a feeling this explanation will take a while. Come. Let's sit down." Artemis Sr gestured for his family to follow and turned to lead the way to the dining room, pausing when he saw his son glance to Butler.

"I'll wait here for Holly and Foaly. Go on, Artemis," Butler told him. "They deserve an explanation."

The voices of the elementals weren't helping to calm his nerves, but he still did his best to appear self-assured and confident as he nodded and followed after his parents. He shivered again and found his hands sweating, and he mentally cursed the withdrawal symptoms and struggled to continue to appear nonchalant.

"So. You both know how I died? That my fairy eye killed me?" he began once they were all seated, Artemis clasping his hands in front of him. He drew on all the information Butler had told him yesterday and tried to make himself remember once again, but, again, there was nothing.

They both nodded. "Somewhat, at least. Butler told me that it was some old fairy spell, and you were targeted because her eye meant you weren't fully human?"

"Yes, Mother. Fortunately for me, my spirit was fully human- and the spell didn't affect anything that wasn't a fairy. I suspected as much beforehand and left behind a few hints for the fairies to follow. I theorized that, if my spirit could remain in this realm for long enough for Foaly to create a clone for me, then coming back to life would be a simple matter. Like a key to a lock."

His parents were looking at him like he had grown a second head. Artemis sighed, trying to clarify it. "You see, fairy cloning science is different than ours- rather than the clone being born with a biological mother and a father, they are grown with nothing more than DNA from the original specimen. Without getting too far into the technical and spiritual aspects, Foaly created nothing more than a vessel for the spirit. I _am_ that spirit. This may not be my original body, but I am still the same person."

His explanation didn't seem to have clarified it any further for his parents. They were both still staring at him in complete shock. Finally, his mother gestured numbly at him and asked, her voice weak, "So, you are… a clone?"

"Exactly. That's why both my eyes are blue- Holly swapping eyes with me didn't change my DNA. There are a few other defects, but I am nearly identical with the original. And, mentally, there is no difference. I have the same personality and memories as the Artemis you remember."

His father narrowed his eyes, though Artemis could tell he was still just as shocked as his mother. "'A few other 'defects'? What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well, I haven't gotten the full run down yet, but I do have a sixth toe. I'm assuming there was a slight mix up in medication underground and it merely caused a point mutation. The fact that I am alive and functioning is evidence that little went wrong. Fairies truly do have amazing technology. Replicating such pristine genetics in a human lab would be nearly impossible."

His father blinked, then just shook his head. "Well, if you say so."

"Wait, wait." His mother leaned forward, resting her arms on the table and gazing steadily at him. "If you had this plan the entire time, why didn't the fairies tell us? Did- did they even care that we thought you were… thought you were _dead_ for six months?!"

Artemis hesitated, unable to meet her eyes. "I don't know," he murmured, skating the topic delicately. He may be alive now, but he didn't want to actually say how unlikely his rebirth had been. He didn't want to admit that he was only alive through nothing short of a miracle. "I haven't spoken with them about this yet, so I can not be certain as to their motivation in keeping this secret from my family. But they were aware that this was no certain thing. It wasn't, truthfully, as simple as a key to the lock- a spirit remaining behind after death takes a lot of willpower and mental strength- a huge amount of concentration… more than I anticipated, actually. Six months is such a long period of time in the spirit realm that it was almost an impossibility that my plan would actually succeed. My guess would be that my friends wanted to spare you more pain if I failed."

His parents both appeared slightly shaken by the news that they had come so close to losing him forever. Artemis shifted self-consciously and shivered, still unable to meet their eyes. He was thankful for the interruption when Butler headed into the room and knocked on the doorframe. "Holly and Foaly have arrived."

Artemis immediately stood, turning to face him. "Thank you, Butler." He moved quickly to the door, in a hurry to escape the dark silence with his parents, where the reality that he had almost died was near and inescapable.

He wasn't prepared for the reality that awaited him outside.

Foaly and Holly were waiting for him. He nodded at them and turned back to close the door while Holly said, "Hey, Artemis."

That voice.

It was _the voice._

Her. The mistress of fire, maiden of agony and torture's call, the voice with the power to incite the mind and to burn you alive with her screams. It was _her._

He turned around and there she was, with hair the color of her voice and mismatched eyes that betrayed none of the malice and sorrow he remembered, but he did not run from the mistress of fire. He stood stoically before her, watching, watching and waiting for the torture to resume.

"Artemis?"

She spoke his name, and he recoiled, Her voice arcing through the air, a hidden threat of fire, and he was actually surprised when Her speech brought him no pain. Artemis stumbled back from the princess, the goddess, the executioner, suddenly unable to breathe, his limbs trembling and his heart pounding in his ears.

"Artemis? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Once again, there was no whiplash of agony, his veins did not catch on fire, his bones did not creak and grate and shatter- but She was still fire, She was still responsible for his never-ending torture his entire tenure in the spirit realm.

And he hates Her, no doubt, but his hate is soft and hidden underneath his smothering, encompassing terror. He is terrified of Her.

"Stop," he choked out, the begging request slipping out by pure instinct, a desperate plea to halt the horrible torture before it began. "_Stop._"  
Her eyes widened, blue and gold piercing through him in what he could only perceive to be shock at his defiance. His logic, racing to catch up with his animalistic instincts and shouting at him to _calm down_- but then She spoke again, and the terrified instincts returned with her.

"It's just us, Artemis. Don't you recognize us? Holly and Foaly-"

"Stop it!" he cried, still utterly shocked at how Her voice did not begin the torture anew. He raised a trembling hand, trying to get Her to just _stop talking_. "Do _not_ speak. Please just trust me."

Holly opened her mouth and shut it again, completely nonplussed. Artemis took a deep, calming breath, allowing himself to grow accustomed to the fact that he could be in Her presence and not experience the endless agony.

His gaze flicked down to focus on Her hand as She raised it, immediately fighting back the instinct to push Her back. It came lightly down to touch his shoulder, and he flinched, but She did not pull back. Her touch was, quite literally, fire. It was as if Her very skin was a lick of fire branching off from a blazing inferno._  
_

And he could keep up his facade around Her accomplices, if masters of suffering themselves, because Earth, Wind, and Water were nothing compared to Her. Fire had been the first to find him and the most sadistic and agonizing presence throughout his entire tenure in the realm of spirits, the goddess at once more terrifying and more all powerful than his hazy memories of Opal had ever been. It had been Her who was responsible for the torture, and whenever he had thought he hadn't been able to take anymore, Her screams had climaxed and Her fire had crackled up and claimed him, smothering him in the unbearable heat and agony of burning his dead ghost alive.

The torturess was _her_.

He stumbled back, choking, grasping at the wall. No logic could trump the undeniable panic he felt at the sight of Her. She looked concerned at his reaction and moved closer to him, raising Her hand. "Artemis?"

"Don't come any- not- I'm sorry-" he gasped, his mind moving quicker than his mouth could keep up. He let out a deep, shuddering breath, but when Holly touched his hand, he abandoned all attempts at reason. "Get off of me!" he snapped, yanking his hand back and pushing Her away from him, his heart pounding in his chest, actually struggling to get in each breath.

Holly looked shocked and Artemis fought to stop himself from attacking her. She hadn't hurt him. Her touch hadn't hurt him and she wasn't here to continue the torture. She had no _idea _what agony her pain had put him through these past six months.

"Artemis, what's wrong?"

_No, no, no._ Every time she spoke, Fire's voice completely obliterated all progress he had made at remaining calm. "Stop it!" he gasped. "Stop talking!"

"Artemis, it's just us-"

Actually wincing at Her voice, Artemis stumbled back, fighting back every instinct that ordered him to strike back. "Stay here. Please, _please_ just stay here."

Holly reached out to stop him once more before he slammed the door, stopping the both of them from helping him. She stared at the closed door in shock, then finally managed to get herself together enough to turn to Foaly. "What the hell was that?"

He shrugged uncertainly, turning to look at her as well. "I have no idea."

"He seemed almost… paranoid. Atlantis Complex, you think?"

Foaly frowned. "I don't think he was counting words… besides, there's no reason for him to relapse. Atlantis is purely psychological; no matter what mistakes I made in genetics, it wouldn't cause a relapse. I don't know what this is."

Holly bit her lip, gazing angrily at the black slab of wood that stopped her from getting to Artemis. What in Frond's name was going on?

Behind the door, Artemis was breathing heavily, on his knees, sucking in sharp gasps through gritted teeth. He _had_ to calm down. Butler hadn't hurt him. Mother hadn't hurt him. Father hadn't hurt him. _She_ wasn't going to hurt him, either. He had to just grow up and endure her company until the instinctual part of his mind learned that she didn't intend to hurt him.

"Calm down," he muttered under his breath, bowing his head and closing his eyes. "Calm down." _She's not going to hurt you. She has been nothing but kind to you in the fantastic space of twenty four hours. She is half your size and couldn't hurt you even if she wanted to. Fire was trying to keep you alive, not hurt you. _

On the other side of the door, Holly was actually contemplating going to get Butler to see if he knew what was wrong when the door suddenly opened to reveal her disheveled friend.

He looked nervous. He was shaking slightly and even appeared to be sweating, his eyes focused solely on her. "I apologize for my earlier behavior," he said carefully, flinching back when she took a step towards him. "…Holly, may I speak with you alone for a moment?"

Surprised, Holly blinked before glancing at Foaly, who shifted uncomfortably and gestured vaguely. "I suppose I could always go meet the parents," he said, trotting off to leave them alone. When he was out of earshot, Artemis turned back to face her, but still kept his distance.

"Holly. I… thank you. Thank you so much." He closed his eyes and lowered his head, still trembling and breathing hard. "I apologize for my earlier behavior. It was instinctual, nothing more. I can't thank you enough for what you did."

"Artemis? What are you talking about?" she asked cautiously. Holly didn't miss how Artemis still flinched back at her voice and resisted the urge to ask him why. She had no earthly idea what he was talking about but he seemed emotional enough, and that, in and of itself, was a rarity. There was no need to rock the boat by pushing him to explain further.

He glanced up hesitantly and met her eyes. "Being dead. I… remember."

She gasped. "Oh, gods. Gods, Artemis… I…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say. She had been dead before, as well, but only for a few minutes on Hybras- and she didn't remember what had happened. She remember falling asleep, and she remembered reappearing in the chaotic mess feeling like she was about to throw up- nothing in between. As Artemis had said himself, no one should have to remember that. "I'm sorry, Artemis."

To her surprise, he smiled. "No. I'm glad I remember. It may not be the most pleasant memory, but at least I know who to thank for me being alive today."

"What do you mean? Were you… _aware_ of everything?"

Artemis shook his head, closing his eyes as he relieved the memory. "No. With no physical form, I didn't realize beforehand that I simply could not experience the physical. But I could sense the spiritual… I found Butler and my parents- or, rather, they found me. It was them who made me hang on, who anchored me to this world until the clone was ready… but it was also you, Holly. I didn't realize until I heard your voice just a moment ago, but you were the first one to find me. If it weren't for you, I would have given up a very long time ago."

The boy shuddered slightly and Holly could tell he was hiding something. But, after what he had just revealed, it didn't matter. "Oh, gods, Artemis. I- I hoped you could sense us, that you knew what was going on, but I… I just didn't want you to die. I didn't do anything special, I just kept hoping you weren't gone- but I knew I couldn't do anything..."

"That you didn't want me to let go was enough to keep me from fading. It took enormous concentration… and, when you found me, I was already about to give up. You wouldn't let me." He winced again when Holly reached and lightly touched his shoulder, and she once again had to stop herself from asking him what was wrong. "I simply needed to thank you for that. I felt you deserved to know."

Holly gazed steadily at him, hoping he wasn't able to read her conflicted emotions just by watching her expression. She was beyond thrilled that Artemis was alive; last night, she had hardly even been able to sleep she was so excited. To know that she had, in fact, helped him hold on and come back was almost too much, and she wanted to tell him that he had no reason to thank her, that she was just glad he was finally alive again- but no words could convey how much his presence finally put her at ease.

Finally, she walked forward and kissed him.

_A world eclipsed entirely by pain, his vision fading black, the hazy picture of the elf above him blurring. He distantly heard her crying out to him but he couldn't discern words. The woman vanished entirely as his world turned dark. The pain began to fade and as his heart stuttered, struggling to pump blood through his maimed and dying body. _

_He didn't care that he was dying. He only had one regret. An image of his mother appeared in the dark and he found himself sorry that he would never be able to save her. _

_Just when Artemis had closed his eyes for what should have been the final time, his world sparked red and his eyes flashed open in shock. He gasped in pain as the fiery sparks swarmed over him, knitting skin and bone back together in an agonizing process that would have made him scream if his throat wasn't choked with blood. He bucked and coughed, jerking off the ground as the sparks buzzed around him, the red figure above him blurring back into his vision. He heard another flurry of words and felt a cool pressure on his cheek. The sparks fizzed out of existence just in time to reveal Holly leaning over her him, eyes glowing crimson._

_"Holly," he breathed. His voice was weak and hoarse and he smiled at her, his frantic breathing beginning to slow. "You saved me."_

_Holly laughed and sobbed at the same time, her tears spilling onto his chest. "Of course I saved you. I couldn't do without you."_

Hand resting gently on his cheek_, leaning down to him, _lips on his_, kissing him, _her eyes closed_, her hand tangling in his hair-_

Holly finally pulled back, leaving Artemis rooted to the spot, stunned. The rush of memories finally ceased playing in front of his eyes and he stood there, struggling to fix himself in the present. "W-what was that for?"

"Fulfilling a promise."

Then she turned and walked away without waiting for a reply.


	18. Chapter 18

Thank you all for reviewing! Short chapter, this one. Look forward to the next one :)

Artemis stared at Holly's retreating back as she walked away from him, completely shocked. She had just kissed him. For a promise? He remembered no such promise, nor had Butler told him of anything involving a kiss between him and Holly. He also had trouble comparing the terrifying image of Fire with the friendly, concerned elf who had yet to cause him any pain or discomfort of any kind. They were two entirely different personas and while he understood that and knew that Holly would never put him through the torture that Fire had… it didn't stop him, or at least the instinctual part of him, from being afraid of her.

Sighing, he headed after her, resolutely determined to not let her notice his fear. He found her standing in the doorway, watching as Foaly talked to his parents, perfectly aware of how shocked they were to see a centaur standing in their dining room like it was the most ordinary thing in the world. He seemed to even enjoy the fact that they were speechless.

"It was quite a simple procedure, really. I extracted the DNA and literally grew him. Almost like you would grow a potted plant, but with a dozen more headaches and expenses. If you think about it, Holly provided the DNA, I provided the 'womb', of sorts- we're almost like his parents."

"Excuse me?"

Foaly glanced over his shoulder, then just smiled. "You heard me. I'm not taking it back, Artemis."

He grimaced. "If you insist, I'd prefer you not saying as such within earshot of me again."

"Then I'll be sure to do so many times in the future. So, you and Holly done with the mushy stuff?"

Holly gave an exasperated sigh while Artemis simply raised an eyebrow. "I was merely apologizing to her for the unfortunate circumstances of our first meeting." He turned to her and locked eyes with her, hoping to make her understand that this wasn't just a deflection; he truly was sorry for kidnapping her.

Holly's eyes widened, and she watched him for several seconds before shaking her head, almost imperceptibly, and turning back to his parents. "So, Mr. Fowl, Mrs. Fowl- I see you've met Foaly. I hope he hasn't been too insufferable."

"Insufferable?!" Foaly replied, but in Gnomish, so his speech was akin to a someone trying to dislodge a lump from their throat. "I am not insufferable. I have a wife! I have friends!"

"No, you have people who tolerate your presence because your inventions do make our lives easier. As for Caballine, well, I wasn't here when you two met, but I'm still convinced you invented some strange love potion while I was away and used it on her."

"I resent that! I _did_ play the hero when you were up here with the Berserker Gate, you know. If only you could have seen it! It'll be the best scene in the movie."

Meanwhile, Artemis's parents were staring at the two friends, their mouths slightly open, watching in shock as the two continued in what looked like a coughing contest. Artemis- slightly surprised that he understood their speech without any difficulty- interceded before it grew any worse, speaking in Gnomish himself. "Can we all speak in English here, for the sake of my parents? And are they really making a movie?"

Foaly grimaced but acquiesced. "As you wish. And, yes, they really are making a movie: _Mud Man's Redemption: Opal Koboi, the sequel_. The previews have already been released and it's set to hit theaters in a week- already sold out. Holly and I were invited as celebrity guests to the premiere."

"Oh, god."

Holly chuckled. "My words exactly."

Angeline simply stared at them both for a few seconds, nonplussed, then shook her head and stood. "Before this strange off shoot continues any further, I would simply like to thank both of you were for your role in helping Artemis come back. If you weren't for you-"

"There is no need to thank us. Artemis was the only who did all the hard work- what little we did was simply our pleasure." Holly smiled at Angeline, who nodded and smiled back.

For Artemis, being trapped in a room with _all four_ of the torturers was very quickly getting to be suffocating. Fighting to stop shaking, he spoke up, keeping his distance from the four. "Mother, Father, I have some rather personal matters to discuss with Holly and Foaly. Would you mind letting us speak in private?"

His mother hesitated, biting her lip, so Artemis prodded her again. "I would like to meet my brothers. Perhaps you could prepare them beforehand? Unless, of course, they see ghosts everyday, I'm sure they'll be more surprised than you were. A little preparation couldn't hurt."

His mother chuckled. "I see how desperate you are to be alone with them. All right, fine, you get your way. We'll go find Myles and Beckett." Gesturing for her husband to follow, she turned and left, still smiling.

Once they were gone, Holly glared at Foaly. "You did that on purpose, didn't you? You knew your appearance would shock them and came in here just to see their reaction."

"Perhaps. I don't often get the chance to wow people by doing nothing more than walking in and saying hello. But I admit to nothing."

"Well, as much as I appreciate you frightening my parents half to death, talking horse, we do have other matters to discuss."

Foaly glowered at Artemis while Holly hopped up to sit on the edge of the table, Artemis sitting in the chair beside her and watching as the centaur headed over to shut the door. "You're right. We do. So, you apologized to Holly for kidnapping her. Does that mean you remember that?"

Artemis shook his head regretfully. "No, my memory is almost as blank as yesterday. Butler explained everything to me, but it didn't trigger any recalls. That doesn't mean my apology for kidnapping you wasn't sincere, though, Holly. I do wish we had met under different circumstances."

"Relax, Artemis. I'm just glad we met; I forgave you for the _circumstances_ a long time ago." Holly grinned reassuringly at him before looking back at Foaly expectantly. "So, what's your diagnosis?"

"I have none. It's not like this is something we do every day. The fact that it even worked at all is a miracle- but I can tell you that, whatever caused the memory loss, it's not me. Memory isn't in DNA. All I'll accept blame for is the sixth toe- which is more of a mechanical and assistant error than mine, anyway."

"So you'll claim credit for the miracle and won't accept blame for the screw-ups? Just shove that off on your machines and assistants? Artemis, he's always like this. You probably just blocked him out."

"There's just no pleasing you people. Fine, his older age is due to a miscalculation on my part. I'll accept blame for _one_ mistake. But I'm still serious about the memory loss; I don't have any idea what caused it. I can speculate, but my theories are probably no more accurate than Artemis's. I'm guessing this is because he only just came back from the dead; memories are in spirit, not genetics, and we have absolutely no data on how easy or rough the transition from spirit to the physical realm is. Your memories could come back with time."

Artemis nodded slowly, considering what Foaly had said. His theory was supported by the fact that he did have several clear memories of before his death, memories that were only growing more numerous as time passed. His ruminations were disrupted, however, by Holly. She wasn't doing anything specific, but he couldn't help but be acutely aware of her presence behind him and how it kept a slight feeling of panic tingling in his limbs- because, friend or not, she was still one and the same with Fire.

Clearing his throat, he began to speak, gradually inching his chair away from Holly as he did so. "Your theory has merit. I have begun to recall some memories, which would make perfect sense in regards to your idea- however, I suspect you did not come up here simply discuss theories with me."

"You're right." Foaly pulled a file out of the backpack slung over his shoulder and tossed it to him. "That's a compilation of all the drug therapies your clone has been on these past six months. Memory or no memory, I'm sure you'll see a problem."

Frowning, Artemis flipped open the file and scanned the contents quickly. It didn't take long for him to find the problem, one that made him almost more worried than Holly's presence behind him. "This seems like such an elementary mistake- surely I must be missing something."

Foaly bristled and narrowed his eyes. "_Elementary_ mistake? Gods. Everyone's got problems with my clone, but no one can produce one better than it, can they? Yes, I suppose you could call it an 'elementary mistake', but, at the time, I was more worried about growing the clone to size, not about what would happen afterward."

"Someone want to clue me in here?" Holly cut in. "Artemis?" She nudged his shoulder lightly and he flinched, though resolutely keeping up his facade of calmness.

Foaly noticed his slight fear and watched him suspiciously for a moment before redirecting his attention to Holly. "I used last night to rework a few calculations. I was right beforehand; the intensive drug therapy I used on the clone caused organ damage. Luckily, magic will reverse it quite easily and quickly, but it's not a procedure that can be done here, not unless there's a medical warlock on hand."

Artemis sighed and would have stood, but the nausea had returned with a vengeance. "That's not your only oversight. I've been going into withdrawal since yesterday night."

Foaly swore while Holly looked down at him in alarm. "Withdrawal?" she asked, laying a hand on his shoulder- this time, he was able to pass off the wince as a shiver. "What are you talking about?"

Foaly grimaced and swore again. "He's talking about _withdrawal_ from me quitting the drugs cold turkey. D'Arvit, I forgot how stupid the human body can be. Sorry, Artemis- unless you want to wean yourself off, there's nothing I can do for you. Fairy bodies are more intuitive than humans ones and we've never had a reason to create treatment for withdrawal symptoms."

"I suspected as much." With a low groan, he stood, nausea be dammed, and began to pace, mostly to get away from Holly's hand. "So, what is our course of action regarding the organ failure?" he asked, keeping his voice steady and clinical. He truly wasn't very worried, simply because Foaly himself didn't seem to concerned. If he were going to die because of this, he doubted his friends would be _this_ calm.

"We need to get you underground sometime in the next week. I'll run some tests and find a doctor willing to perform the procedure on a human who is widely known to be dead. You don't need to worry, though; you're considered a fairy hero. I'm sure there's a conspiracy theorist or two out there who will gladly work on you if I just tell them you're a zombie."

Artemis and Holly both glared at him, Artemis still pacing around the room. "Thanks, Foaly," he retorted, "it's a great comfort to know that you'll be placing my life in the hands of a nutcase."

Foaly waved him off. "No need to worry! Just because someone's a nutcase doesn't necessarily mean that they are inept. Besides, the procedure is simple. A warlock in training could probably do it."

Artemis mulled over his options while still pacing, consciously avoiding going anywhere near Holly. He did have responsibilities on the surface, ones more important than this magical operation that, by the way Foaly was describing it, could be finished in five minutes. His family still had questions that would have to be answered, and he still had brothers to meet- he would prefer not to leave until he had tied up all loose ends.

On the other hand, the rest of the world thought he was dead- and he still hadn't thought up any plans for how to circumvent that. Even if the world was still caught in the after affects of the Great Techno Crash, people would still be alarmed to see a body that had been dead and buried for six months up and walking. Some time underground might be helpful, or at least give him an idea as to how to deal with the fact that everyone still believed that he was dead.

"We should leave today, if at all possible," he finally announced. "I can explain the situation to my family."

Foaly nodded in agreement. "That would be best. I'll set it up. We can't leave until it's dark, though- otherwise, we'll have to fight our way through dozens of fairies fighting to get a surface visa. We're lucky travel to the surface is still suspended at night."

"And that Chix still loves me enough to let us get away with anything, even dragging an illegal clone up to the surface," Holly added. She jumped off the table and moved to stand behind Artemis, and he couldn't help but wonder why she was unable to notice his discomfort at her proximity. "Come on, then, Artemis. Let's go tell Butler what's going on. He'll probably end up coming with us, anyway."

"Together?" he asked in surprise. "I do believe I can tell them myself, Holly."

She scoffed. "In this gigantic house? With no memory, you'll probably get lost. Admit it, you _need_ me, Artemis."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself." He grinned at her and led the way, purposefully moving so he could still see her out of the corner of his eye. She had given him no reason to fear her, but still…_ Fire, the torturess, Fire, the master, Fire, bringer of pain…_

Shuddering slightly, Artemis walked a little faster, fighting back panic.


	19. Chapter 19

Thank you all for reviewing!

"Tell me something."

Artemis's abrupt request surprised Holly. She glanced over at him, raising her eyebrows when he didn't clarify. "Tell you what?"

He shrugged. "Anything. Anything about me. At this point, you know me better than I know myself. I'd like to change that."

Holly gazed at him sadly. It was the lesser of two evils, she supposed, to have an amnesiac Artemis back, rather than not having him here at all. That still didn't mean it thrilled her to see him like this. "Artemis… it won't change anything. You still won't remember."

"The more I learn about my past, the more I remember. Butler's synopsis may have been helpful, but it doesn't replace my memories. I know I can remember, Holly. I just need a little prodding in the right direction."

Holly hesitated. She could hear the determination in his voice and was sure that he would get what he wanted, whether she helped him or not. And she was still so happy that she could finally talk to him again that she decided to agree. "All right. I'll tell you _something_. Just let me think for a second."

Artemis simply watched her impassively while she pondered their previous adventures, searching for the right memory. She didn't want to walk him through one of the more complicated, dangerous aspects of their intwertwined lives. She wanted something simple.

Finally, she was struck with the perfect memory. She turned towards Artemis and smiled, beginning to speak. "Butler told you about you getting Atlantis Complex, right?"

"Yes. He explained what it was as well as he was able."

"Good. Well, about a year ago…"

_Holly sighed. She was once again greeted by the familiar sight of the genius with less control over his own mind than ever before in his life, and it wasn't easy to look at and keep her expression impassive. It was infuriating and heartbreaking all at once, especially as this was far out of her area of expertise. She couldn't do anything to help him this time; he wasn't being threatened or harmed by anyone except himself. _

_Usually dressed in an impeccable suit and tie, Artemis had forgone the suit jacket and tie with his shirt not buttoned all the way. It had been his customary look since being admitted to the clinic; Argon had tried to insist that he wear a hospital gown, like the rest of the patients, but Artemis was still a fifteen year-old human- constantly growing and already taller than almost any fairy. And, even insane, Artemis still got his way. He could still argue better than a middle-aged doctor who viewed Artemis as another ticket to fame. _

_He was hunched over a desk, writing frantically with his left hand, tapping incessantly on the wood with his right. It didn't take long for Holly to pick out the pattern. Five taps, a pause for one second, then ten taps, then twenty, then back to five. His hand was tapping so fast it was almost a blur and he was muttering under his breath._

_Artemis didn't seem to have realized she was there. It also appeared to be one of his worse days- sometimes, he had even thrown her out, accusing of her conspiring with Dr. Argon to keep him here and run experiments on him. Always, Holly would leave, as he requested, and return the next day, and always Artemis would give a short, awkward apology and wouldn't mention what had happened again. Holly hoped that his paranoia hadn't returned with a vengeance today, but knew there was nothing she could do about it even if it had._

_Clearing her throat, she took a few steps forward, still keeping her distance, and said, "Hey, Mud Boy. What'cha working on over there?"_

_Artemis jumped slightly, looking over his shoulder before shaking his head vigorously- five shakes, she counted- and smiling. "Holly. I didn't realize you were here. Please, come in."_

_Holly frowned. Ten words. "I already am." _

_Artemis shrugged but didn't reply. He didn't look well; raven locks were stuck to his forehead from sweat, he was still breathing rather hard, and his hand was still tapping five, ten, twenty times. She had to resist the urge to grab his hands and force him to stop, as if it were that easy. Forcing her eyes onto his, she smiled again. "What were you working on?" Five words, in spite of herself. It had become almost habit to count her words, for his sake._

_She noticed him smile slightly- no doubt because of her word count. "Nothing very important…. Holly… Short." _

_She huffed. His speech was still stilted, and he occasionally called her by her full name or even her LEP title to make his word count. It angered her, but she bit her tongue and kept silent. _

_"You always say that. I'm starting to wonder if you've begun plotting again, even from in here."_

_"Nonsense, Holly. You are perfectly aware that the door locks when you leave. What would be the point of plotting if I can not leave?" Twenty five words. Again._

_"I am also perfectly aware that you already know how to unlock that door in no less than five seconds."_

_Artemis smirked. "I admit to nothing, Holly." He turned away and began pacing around the room, running a hand through his hair. _

_With his back turned, Holly took the opportunity to sneak a glance at what he had been writing. What she saw wasn't very comforting. _

_5x5=25 25x5=125 125x5=625 625x5=3125 3125x5… _

_The block of text went on for over half the page, reaching numbers Holly was sure even Artemis had to puzzle over for a few seconds. She frowned. This wasn't what she wanted to see._

_Neither was Artemis facing the wall, his finger still tapping. "Five five five five five," he muttered under his breath before letting out a sigh. He turned around again, then froze, seeing Holly standing by the desk. Holly tried to keep her face blank, but he knew, almost without asking. "You read it, didn't you?"_

_Holly bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably under the weight of his gaze. Taking that as confirmation, Artemis shook his head, his eyes clouded with anger and… was that shame? "I prefer numbers to Orion," she said softly, trying to comfort him._

_"Then you'll be glad Orion seems to be content to watch in silence and lament that our relationship is nothing more than friendship, fair lady. Unless you wish to construct a bivouac for just the two of us- which I am positive would make Orion giddy with glee- I think he'll eventually shrivel up in regret and sorrow and die. Of course, I speak hypothetically. If a personality could die, I think I would have asked Butler to take care of him already. He's caused quite a lot of trouble."_

_Holly shook her head and rolled her eyes, glad that Artemis seemed to be more like himself today, but her good spirits were killed immediately when he began tapping again. He almost didn't even seem to notice until he realized Holly was watching his fingers. They paused on the nineteenth tap, trembling slightly, before almost reluctantly coming down for the twentieth. _

_"Nineteen," he explained. "Not a multiple of… five minus one, but still one less than a multiple of five." He shook his head and shuddered slightly. "Twenty is much better, don't you think?" _

_"No. No, I don't," she said bluntly. "It's just a number. They're all just numbers. I don't see why even you like it so much, either. Fives time _four_ is twenty, you know."_

_Artemis winced. "Holly…" he said, his voice pained. "They're not just numbers, anymore. You think I enjoy this? The tapping, it's a compulsion, and a habit that I would love dearly to give up."_

_"So then give it up." Holly walked forward and took the distraught boy's hand. "I think it should be easy, for someone like you."_

_It was the wrong thing to say._

_"Oh, you do, do you?" Artemis ripped his hand out of hers, his face twisting into a scathing glare and a scowl. "It's just that simple, is it? 'Give it up'? I can't tell you how much I would love to be able to just 'give it up'. But, tell me, Holly, because I am truly interested to know- do you actually think I am able to just forget about these dammed numbers and Orion and whether or not I can trust you? Do you actually think I _like_ being here? Artemis Fowl's done it all, one would only assume that he, like all other geniuses, would lose his mind as well. Clinically insane is a lovely label, Captain, so much so, in fact, that I should like to remain here under the implications it carries a while longer. Because I actually _enjoy_ being trapped under the watchful eyes of doctors and cameras and behind locked doors, as apparently, I'm a danger to myself and others. I can't even see or talk to you or Butler or even my own_ mother _anymore without wondering if you're there to hurt me or not, and yet, you stand here and tell me to just 'give it up'! Don't you think I would if I could?!" _

_Holly was stunned. She had never seen Artemis lose control like that before, and almost expected a nurse to come through the door- because, paranoid or not, Artemis was right, someone was watching this entire exchange right now- and tell her to leave and come back tomorrow, but no one did. Artemis, breathing hard, kept his slightly wild eyes locked with hers for a moment before he turned his back and let his breath out slowly. He tapped his finger against the wall, slowly hitting it five times. On the last tap, he pushed himself off and turned back to look at Holly, somehow managing to already appear composed. _

_"I apologize. I am angry with myself, not at you. I know that you mean to help, not to harm." Artemis sat on his bed and averted his eyes, seemingly forcing himself to relax. _

_Holly sat beside him, tentatively resting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, too, Artemis. I didn't mean… I suppose I was frustrated, too. Because, to me, they _are_ just numbers. I still don't understand how they can cause you such consternation and fear."_

_"I don't, either. There are not many occasions where I can truthfully say that I do not understand something, but this is one of them." Grimacing, Artemis gazed at the wall, seemingly lost in thought. "I've thought about it at length, but have no answer. Dr. Argon claims that sufferers possess such guilt that they almost begin to hate themselves, or to think they deserve some sort of punishment. Aversion to numbers, he says, is simply because they believe they will be punished, eventually, for their crimes, and they begin to imagine the revenge to come from everywhere. Numbers are so common in every day life that they seem to be a natural target for the brain to propel its fears onto." _

_"That sounds more ridiculous than Mulch taking up troll riding."_

_Artemis laughed dryly and nodded. "Yes, I know. I don't buy it either. Doctors like him are one of the reasons I dislike the idea of psychiatry so much. The brain, human or fairy, is complex, and trying to write it so all minds subscribe to same rules or act in the same way is not only incorrect, it is often detrimental. The mind is not a molecule, or an element, or an electron. Why should we treat it like it behaves according to the rules of science?"_

_Holly smiled. It was good to see the old Artemis was still here with them. "And yet, you agreed to come here anyway."_

_"I may disagree with some of his ideas, but he still has an impressive track record. When Opal first was admitted here, I did a little checking up on the place. Among the list of those he had proudly cured were five sufferers of Atlantis Complex. And if he has cured others…" he trailed off with a self-explanatory shrug. _

_"He's your best option."_

_Artemis winced. "Please add another word to your sentence." _

_She held back a groan but acquiesced. "_So_, he's your best option."_

_"Yes." Artemis's voice was relieved and he smiled at her, but she could still see the shame and hesitation in his eyes. "And, thank you, Holly. I know that I'm being unreasonable. Heaven knows why you keep coming back here. I'm sure you have better things to do than count words for me."_

_"Arty, come on. Don't say that. So you're not at your best right now; who cares? That's what friends are for. You've been there with me when I was at my worst, after Julius died. You didn't think it was a burden or a chore, just like that's not how I think of this."_

_"That was a different situation," he insisted. With a sigh, Artemis leaned back and ran a hand through his hair again. "In any case, I do appreciate you coming here so often. I've never been my own worst enemy before. Now, I'm starting to see what everyone else is up against."_

_Holly actually laughed. "Yes. Perhaps you might want to reconsider going after so many people, now that you know what an impossible nuisance you are to have as an enemy?" _

_"Oh, no. I think not. Any Mud Man hating fairy is a potential enemy of mine, which, unfortunately, gives me quite a long list. And, after all, Holly, if I'm not going after LEP's most wanted, what would I do all day? We've saved the world so many times I almost feel as if we could start a company for that very purpose."_

_"I'm sure we'd get quite a lot of business. Plus, as long as there are two Opals out there, I'm sure we could terrify the Council into giving us grants."_

_Artemis chuckled. "Imagine it. The unlikely duo of human and fairy, working together to fight crime? Almost sounds like a television show."_

_"We'd be a hit! Although I think I'd be the most popular character."_

_Artemis appeared horrified. "You would not! I'm wounded, Captain," he said, holding a hand over his heart, causing her to smirk. "I assure you, it would be obvious who the intelligence of the operation was."_

_Holly punched him lightly on the arm. "I'm not contesting that. However, all the brains in the world won't mean a thing if you can't handle a gun. Or manage to run twenty feet across a flat, stable surface without tripping."_

_"I'm not as coordinationally challenged as you seem to think, Holly. I have proven myself able, in the past."_

_"Able to what, exactly? Face it, Artemis. I'd be the popular, ass kicking cop with good looks and a gun, and you'd just be the nerd with the laptop. Don't worry, though- some ladies would still go for you."_

_He rolled his eyes. "Thank heavens. I was worried." _

_Holly patted his arm and smirked again. "Really? If you're still worried, then I'm sure I can think of an attractive male actor who would portray you so well that you'd have women out here every night, screaming for your release so they could actually _see_ the famed Artemis Fowl. Who knows? Maybe you'll even get a girlfriend."_

_"I'm far too busy for that. Besides, I don't think there are too many fairies down here who would put up with me. Not many are as patient as you."_

_"You got that right."_

_Artemis's smile faded instantly, and he winced again. Holly was left in the dark until he asked, his voice quiet, "Would you please add another word to your sentence?"_

_Something just snapped. _

_Jumping to her feet, Holly shook her head and turned to glare at him. "No. No, I will not 'add another word' to my dammed sentence!" she spat acidly. "It's just a number, Arty! Just a dammed number! Why do you care about it so much?! What do you think is going to happen if I say a four word sentence? Explosions, death, attack of the D'Arviting zombies?! You ever notice how _nothing_ ever happens if I say a four word sentence?! For someone so devoted to logic and rational thought, you're D'Arviting stupid! Gods, Artemis! It's _just a number!_ Four! One-two-three-_four!_ Four, four, four, four! D'Arvit, why can't you just get that?! It's a _number!_That's all it is! Four! Four! Four! Four! Four four four four!" _

_Artemis actually cried out, his hands moving up to cover his ears seemingly of their own accord. He rocked back and forth slightly and trembled, the blood draining from his face. There was true terror in his eyes, and he closed them tightly and panted for breath, breathing hard through his mouth as he hunched over and wrapped his arms tightly around himself, still shaking. He whimpered, his trembling muscles tensed as if he was preparing to run._

_It took a few seconds for Holly's previous anger to drain away at the sight of him so scared, and once she finally realized what she had done, she instantly reached out to him. "Oh, Gods. Oh, Gods. What have I done? Artemis-"_

_The genius shook his head sharply, silencing her, still without opening his eyes. His fingers began tapping frantically patterns of five while he whispered the word under his breath over and over again in a mantra, almost like a prayer. He whimpered again, and Holly, helpless to do anything at all, was forced to just watch as him suffer. What had she done? She _knew_ how frightening and unbearable that number was to him. He didn't trot her fears out in front of her like that when he knew it would hurt her; why hadn't she done the same for him?_

_Holly already knew the answer. Before Artemis had asked her to add another word to her sentence, she'd almost forgotten entirely about the fact that he still had Atlantis Complex. They hadn't been able to talk like they had today for a very long while, and she missed it and was actually happy and carefree with him for once- and then, suddenly, there it was again, popping its ugly head up and reminding her that Artemis was still sick and that the disorder was always just lurking under the surface. It had made her furious._

_That was still no excuse for her causing him to have an anxiety attack._

_She waited patiently, the silence only punctured by her friend's occasional soft whimpers. Every single one made her wince and she fought the urge to reach out and comfort him. If he hadn't been paranoid and afraid of her before this, he certainly would be after._

_Artemis's breathing gradually slowed, and his mantra of fives began to soften while his nervous tapping ceased. Finally, he opened his eyes, a deep exhaustion in them she hadn't seen before. "Forgive my overreaction, Captain Short." His speech was hesitant and halted, and it was clear he was choosing his words very carefully so as to get the exact word count he needed to stay calm. "I should have responded differently." _

_"Gods, no, Artemis. D'Arvit. No." This time mindful of her friend, Holly, too, struggled to keep her speech in phrases of five. "Don't say that. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."_

_He laughed brokenly. "I'm sure Commander Kelp loves what's happened to me now." He clearly had struggled to turn the sentence into ten words and smiled weakly up at her. "If I'm ever a threat to the People, all it takes is someone to say a number and I'll be out of commission. Not exactly an intimidating mastermind."_

_Holly approached him slowly and cautiously rested her hand on his arm. "Artemis, look at me… please." He made no move to tear his eyes away from the wall across from them, but Holly forged on, regardless. "Everything's going to be okay. You're going to get better, I promise."_

_Artemis hung his head, almost in defeat, and closed his eyes. He remained silent for several long seconds before admitting his fear aloud. "Perhaps it would be easier to just accept this and return to the surface."_

_The resignation in his voice was heartbreaking. _He doesn't think he's going to get better,_ Holly realized. _He thinks this is it, now, for the rest of his life._ "You don't really think that, do you?"_

_"Some days, no. Some days, I can tap just nineteen times and be happy that I don't have to hit twenty. I can say a sentence with fo… five minus one words and not have it affect me. I can see you and not have to tolerate my mind warning me, telling me that you're not who you say you are, that this is all a scam or a hallucination. ...And then, there are days like today. Sometimes, it's just easier not to try at all. It's too exhausting."_

_"Come on, Artemis. Listen to yourself! That's not who you are. You took on the entire LEP when you were just twelve years old and _won. _Gods, you even discovered fairies, something almost no other human has ever done! Just because something was hard didn't stop you from accomplishing it anyway!"_

_Artemis remained silent for a long while. He wasn't even tapping now- something Holly was sure was either very good or very bad. When he finally did look up at her, his mismatched eyes were glistening. "No. No, everything before this was different. I can fight others… I can't fight myself." He shook his head, the very picture of desperation and despair, and his voice broke. "I think… I think I've almost given up."_

_Holly couldn't take it anymore. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "Artemis, no," she murmured harshly, feeling his hand clench the fabric of her shirt. "Don't give up. Just hang on a little while longer. Keep fighting it. I won't let you give up, I swear."_

_Artemis slumped against her, an arm winding around her back. His head was hidden in her shoulder, and she felt his shoulders move up and down as he sobbed silently. He wasn't crying; even in his lowest state, his pride wouldn't allow that, but she could actually feel him break in her arms and her heart nearly shattered. She felt even worse about her earlier tirade about fours and barely stopped herself from apologizing again. Artemis didn't want or need apologies. He needed reassurance and strength. _

_They had been quiet for several minutes when Artemis spoke. "Orion is quite excited by the current circumstances. He thinks, in his words, that I should court you, fair maiden, and entice you with the promise of a bivouac."_

_Holly pushed him back, laughing, understanding this as Artemis's way of saying that he was okay. She punched him in the arm. "Tell him to dream on."_

_"As you command, fair maiden. If you wish it, I could promise the untold riches of my kingdom to you. With your noble steed, you would make a fitting princess."_

_Holly hit him again, still unable to stop herself from smiling. "Stop that! It's creepy, Artemis."_

_He smiled innocently. "Are you sure you don't prefer me over him, fair maiden? I am a knight, and fear nothing- not even a dragon could keep me from you. Artemis, on the other hand, would be frightened off like a little milk maid by a mere number."_

_"Oh, I don't know. I think you wouldn't run screaming if someone's life depended on it."_

_Artemis shrugged, letting his facade as Orion fade. "I'm glad someone thinks so."_

_She squeezed his hand. "People believe in you, Artemis, even if you don't. Perhaps Orion is who I would turn to if I needed someone with agility or coordination, but, if I was ever actually in need of a knight in shining armor, I'd choose you." _

_Artemis finally offered a genuine smile. "Thank you, Holly."_

_"Just don't expect me to call you anytime soon. I don't anticipate needing a scrawny little Mud Boy to come to my rescue in the near future." _

_"You wound me again, Captain. Insulting a mental patient is low, even for you. Who knows what long term psychological damage your comment just caused?"_

_Holly rolled her eyes and grinned. "I'm not going to stroke your ego, if that's what you want. And complimenting you on any physical ability of yours would be a lie, unless, perhaps, it was your stunning talent of being unable to hit a stationary target less than a meter away from you."_

_"My depth perception is not what it once was, Holly," he protested, tapping the skin underneath his fairy eye. "That is not my fault." _

_"Oh, come on, Artemis! I have your eye and you've seen me; I'm quite a good shot."_

_He nodded again, a small smile tugging on his lips. "That you are, Holly. That you are." _

When Holly finished, Artemis was watching her impassively, his expression betraying no emotion whatsoever. He appeared to be deep in thought, and Holly let him think, silence reigning for a few minutes until he finally announced, "Well. Thank you for telling me that. It certainly is helpful."

"How? Do you remember it?"

Artemis smiled and shook his head, which she found odd, under the circumstances. "Do I remember that? No. It does inform me about Orion, however. Butler told me of his existence, but I never knew about his infatuation with you until just now. It does help partially explain another memory I have regained."

Holly frowned. Artemis seemed to know something she didn't, but she couldn't help but wonder what Orion's sickening adoration of her explained. She still couldn't make sense of it and it had been over a year since Orion had confessed his eternal love for her. "What are you talking about?"

"I remember you kissing me, Holly," he said matter-of-factly. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life once again, though I have to ask why Butler never informed of this. Tell me, were we once…" He made a vague gesture and Holly gazed at him blankly for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter.

"Romantically involved? Oh, gods, no. No, never. What you're remembering… it's from another time. Butler never told you because he doesn't know. He wasn't there. Well, he was, but we wiped his memory. You were actually there, too. D'Arvit, not _you_ you, I mean your younger self. I mean-"

Artemis cut her off before her speech grew any more convoluted. "I assume you are speaking of when the two of us traveled eight years in the past together? So there were two of me in the same time period?"

Relieved, Holly nodded. "Yes. You never did remember how the younger you experienced it all. I would've thought everything that's happened would have jogged your memory, but I guess not."

"It is of no matter. At the present moment, I am more interested in Orion. You must be, for lack of a better word, a fantastic kisser for one single moment of passion to create a personality that was so completely and shamelessly in love with you. Perhaps any carnal intentions you caused simply fueled into his obsession with you."

Holly grinned. "That was Dr. Argon's theory as well. I don't never whether to be flattered or disturbed that people seem to think I'm so good with my _tongue_ that I could create someone as creepy as Orion was. Not quite sure if that's something I should put on my resume."

"Perhaps not." Artemis shook his head and shivered, at the same time brushing the sweat off his forehead. "Blasted withdrawal," he muttered crossly. "You're sure there's no magical treatment for it?"

"Sorry, no. If there was, Foaly would know." Holly watched sympathetically while Artemis shivered again, then glanced at her watch. They had about half an hour before Foaly would return to collect them, and Holly decided she had time to try and extract the truth out of him. "So, Artemis. I did what you wanted. You mind returning the favor?"

Artemis narrowed his eyes. "Why do I suspect I'm not going to like what you're about to say?"

Holly smiled at him and shook her head. "Don't worry, it's nothing too awful. I just want to know why you're afraid of me."

She watched as his eyes widened and he stiffened, shifting back slightly even as he shook his head. "What? I'm not afraid of you, I-"

"Artemis, I may not be as smart as you, but I'm not an idiot. You flinch every time I open my mouth."

Artemis shifted uncomfortably and averted his eyes. He coughed and went to great lengths to avoid looking at her, his gaze suddenly dark and uncertain. Sensing his nervousness, Holly kept her distance and tried to keep her voice gentle and reassuring.

"Just _tell_ me, Artemis. Whatever it is surely can't be that horrible."

Artemis simply shook his head and closed his eyes, as if in pain. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Holly. And I would prefer it remain that way. If you can trust me at all, trust me on this- you don't want to know."

"I think that I do. And whatever it is clearly concerns me, so I think I have a right to know."

"No." Artemis shook his head, clearly frustrated, and leaned back in his chair. "It's my issue only. It is nothing you did, Holly, and my fear is simply instinctual. You don't need to worry. I am fine."

"That's not what I'm worried about!" Holly slid off the table and began pacing back and forth, watching him in concern. "Artemis, what did I do? There has to be a reason you can barely stand the sight of me. And, before you try to deflect, I know it wasn't the kiss. You were acting like this before."

"As I already said, it is nothing you did. Please just leave things as they are, Holly. I can assure you that nothing is wrong and nothing you do will be able to change this; it will simply take time."

Holly glared at him. "Gods, Artemis, you're talking in circles. You're talking in circles and it's infuriating. Just tell me what's wrong."

Artemis was clearly getting uncomfortable now. He bit his lip and squirmed in his seat, seemingly unable to meet her eyes. "I said no, Holly. Please just let the subject drop."

Swearing under her breath, Holly leaned back against the wall and tried to think of another way to get him to talk when her a message from Foaly flashed across her wrist watch.

_I'm early. I've got the shuttle waiting outside. Hurry up. _

Sighing, Holly watched Artemis for a moment longer before deciding to bring it up later. She wasn't making any progress with him this way and they did have to get underground as soon as possible. "Artemis, Foaly just messaged me. He's waiting outside."

Artemis was clearly relieved when he stood and hurriedly left the room, shaken. Holly was only further convinced by his reaction that she had to find out why he was suddenly terrified of her. Despite his insistence that it was nothing, she was getting worried. She had never seem him act like this, not even when he'd had Atlantis and was paranoid of everyone around him. She kept thinking through her actions yesterday, positive she had done something to cause this strange shift in his behavior, but there was nothing she could think of that would result in Artemis being this afraid of her.

_It seems bringing him back to life was only half the battle,_ she thought, trudging after Artemis to Foaly.


	20. Chapter 20

Thank you all for reviewing! I've finally started the last hurrah of this story (in my file, that is, which is a few chapters ahead of this), so we're close to the final stretch! I could not, for the life of me, find the quotes from Eternity Code I needed for this chapter online. My own copy of the book is, eh, missing several pages… that scene happens to be contained among them… so, without further ado...

Chix playfully saluted Foaly and Holly when they stepped out of the shuttle onto the thankfully empty dock. "What, no medical contraptions this time around, Captain?" Chix asked her. "No life support systems or mysterious oxygen tents that could be hiding gods know anything?"

"We paid you to look the other way, Chix; perhaps you should have actually _looked_ the other way," Holly replied sharply before stepping aside and leading Artemis and Butler out of the shuttle.

Chix stared at them in shock, his jaw falling open as the smaller of the two looked around the platform curiously. When Artemis turned to him, nodded, and smiled politely, the sprite looked like he was about to pass out. "Y-y-you!" he stammered, stumbling backwards. "You're dead! You're supposed to be dead!"

"Greetings from the afterlife. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Holly rolled her eyes at Artemis's quick reply and Chix paled, his eyes widening so he looked almost comical. He looked between her and Artemis for several seconds, still sputtering, before Butler decided to intercede.

"Perhaps, little man, you should leave us be."

Chix took one look at his hulking form before scrambling to obey, running away so fast from the monstrous man and the zombie that he was practically a blur. Holly laughed and turned to Artemis, who was shaking his head and smiling.

"You did that on purpose."

Artemis shrugged innocently. "It may have been enjoyable. But I wasn't intending on frightening him quite so much. Am I really such a terrifying image to your people that they must run screaming?"

"You haven't seen anything yet. You're a human, you're a fairy hero, and you're supposed to be dead. People will either believe you're God reincarnate or an evil spirit returned from hell to destroy us all when they see you."

"Lovely." Artemis walked after Foaly as the centaur led him through the otherwise deserted station, looking around in interest. It was certainly more restored than what little had he seen of the human world. The fact that they had any working technology whatsoever actually put them miles ahead of his own species. "You've clearly came a long way in these past six months," he remarked, gesturing back to the shiny, state of the art shuttle behind him and the automatic blast doors up ahead. "It's impressive."

Foaly laughed. "Artemis Fowl, paying the People a compliment? I never thought I'd see the day. But, yes… we have. It's been almost sad, really, watching the humans flounder- they're sending letters in boats across the Atlantic, for gods' sakes. Even amidst growing you, I still had enough free time to help with the reconstruction. It's amazing what you can do when you all live clustered together, instead of spread out over the entire planet… but I digress. Come on, hurry. While it's still dark."

Nodding, Holly draped a jacket around Artemis's shoulders and pulled the hood up over his head, doing her best to disguise his appearance. It was far too small for him, but it accomplished the job will enough. "Keep that on," she instructed and glanced around in suspicion before pulling him outside. She quickly followed after Foaly, leading Artemis and Butler to the waiting car outside.

She wasn't expecting anyone to already be in it.

The moment she opened the door, a female centaur stepped out, shaking her long mane out angrily, her eyes glinting in what Holly could only describe as fury. Caballine nodded coldly at her before turning to Foaly. "Holly's here. Well, it's good to see my husband wasn't on the surface completely alone, then- though that still begs the question just what exactly he was doing up there in the first place."

Holly and Foaly both stared at her in shock while Artemis watched curiously, his identity still hidden by the jacket. Caballine hardly spared the humans a second glance, still focused entirely on her husband. "Well, Foaly?" she demanded. "Care to explain why I received a call this afternoon from Commander Kelp, who wanted to know why you had pulled two unauthorized trips to the surface in two days? Here I was, thinking you were at Mulch's ceremony and _work_, and I find out you've been on the _surface_ this entire time? What, is this just a continuation of your prolonged absence since the crash? Your constant "oh, I have to work, I'm sorry,"- have you really just been on the surface?!"

Foaly shifted nervously and glanced back at the fruit of his labors, who was quickly catching on with the situation. Ducking around her and into the car so no one else on the street could see, Artemis pulled back his hood and smiled at her. "Forgive me; I am the reason Foaly has been so busy these past six months. If you wish to be angry with someone, let it be me, and not him."

Caballine turned to him, fully intending to show him no mercy whatsoever- that was, however, until she saw who it was. Her reaction was one Artemis was beginning to expect- the same flash of shock and disbelief, the same gasp and frantic stammer as she tried to make sense of the illogical sight before her, the same trembling hands and wide eyes.

"Forgive my human friend. He loves his shock value," Foaly muttered, even as Caballine turned to stare at him, still unable to form a coherent sentence. Holly watched while he guided her into the passenger seat, already fumbling his way through an explanation while Caballine kept glancing back at Artemis in amazement. Holly and Butler- the latter, albeit with some difficulty- climbed into the back with Artemis.

"That's Caballine," she murmured in his ear. "Foaly's wife. You met her a few times."

He nodded and remained silent as the car began moving along the magnetic tracks, listening to Foaly explain the situation to his wife- or pretending to, at least. Holly was sitting rather close to him- far too close for comfort, considering what her voice reminded him of- and with Butler- or, as he still thought of him, Earth- so near as well, he couldn't help but be nervous.

_Earth and Fire, symbiotic and mutualistic, burning with the strength of the rock that forms a new planet and the heat of the flame of the stars that light them, with him as the focus of their powers- but he lacks the strength of rock and the endurance to outlast this fire, and their screams climax with his pain, a never-ending cycle of agony-_

"Artemis?"

_Voice of Earth-_

"What's wrong?"

_Solid vines and roots from the belly of the earth around his ethereal form, their touch a fire-_

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

_Earthy ropes bind him to this plane, a plane he wants to fall off of into the realm of non-existence, for, at least then, there is no pain and agony-_

"Withdrawal," he gasps- a common lie, of late. "A symptom of withdrawal. Don't worry; I am fine."

Of course, his shaking voice fools no one, and wouldn't even if Butler and Holly both hadn't been trained to read body language. But he can't tell them the truth; he can't tell them that they only anchored him to this world through torture, that it's impossible to lose the focus and concentration necessary to exist when your veins are on fire and you are caught in a vice of the four elements; that their pain had been his pain.

And he is thankful that his friends don't press him on the lie, because their voices only vex the problem.

For the problem isn't just them.

It's that his fear has no solution.

* * *

Artemis lay back on the cool metal table and shivered slightly, now bare-chested, and gazed up at the ceiling. Foaly had promised that the tests themselves wouldn't take very long and anesthetized practically his entire torso, making it impossible for him to sit up, which wasn't exactly helping his nerves when he noticed what the centaur held in his hands.

He eyed sharp knife Foaly was approaching him with doubtfully, raising an eyebrow when the centaur lifted the blade. He looked like he was about to cut into a piece of meat. "I know I'm technically your experiment, but do you really have to cut into me like I'm a replaceable lab rat?"

"Oh, relax. It won't hurt."

Artemis swallowed and cocked his head to the side. "In my experience, when men in white lab coats and knives promise that, 'it won't hurt,' they mean, in fact, just the opposite."

"Aw. Is little Arty afraid of doctors?"

"No. I'm afraid of bleeding to death when I see someone approaching me with a knife that they keep twirling between their fingers and grinning at- as are most people, I believe."

Foaly shrugged and stopped twirling the blade, lowering it to Artemis's flesh. "Well, you are not most people. Now, hold still."

Artemis held his breath and lifted his head off the table, watching as Foaly sliced into his torso. There was no pain; there was hardly anything, in fact, besides a slight and peculiar tugging sensation, there was nothing. Artemis watched curiously as made the small incision and poked around under his skin, intrigued as to how he felt nothing from the procedure.

"See? Doesn't hurt. Fairies decided to actually develop medicines that don't lie on the label and claim they don't hurt when they do- unlike your species, which seems to have found a sadistic pleasure in watching people believe said lies and then finding out the truth the hard way."

Artemis sighed and rolled his eyes as Foaly continued his work, systematically cutting into his stomach and taking tiny pieces of organ when he withdrew. It was surprisingly quick, and Artemis found his mind beginning to wander.

He idly watched Foaly's quick, gloved fingers cut and cut again. They were soon stained with red… and that red was…. familiar.

_Gasping and panic, pain, and fear beneath hands, working fast and hard to save and halt the inevitable, pale, spidery fingers scrabbling across rent cloth, gasps of both pain and denial coloring the air._

_And those white hands rip back black to find a mass of red. They dip into the lake and come back covered in blood, the terrifying substance dripping, slow and vicious, off his hands and back into the ever-spreading ocean. The hands start to shake and blood drips off the snowy surface._

_Below, turbulent fear speaks, a dying man's final wish… a breath of air, a name…_

The grey ceiling swam back into view above him, Artemis suddenly reawakening from the twisted flashback. He gasped reflexively and heard Foaly swear and say something, but he was still too lost in the rush of memories to hear him at first.

The voice spoke again, coaxing him out of the unfamiliar swirl and he released his breath, relaxing as the memories faded.

"_Hey!_ Artemis! Are you even listening to me?"

He blinked, the physical world finally clicking back into place. Foaly was standing above him, as before, waving the bloody knife in front of his face. He blinked again and the centaur sighed in aggravation. "You mind not breathing so heavily? You exhaled right into the knife. If you're not careful, you may actually bleed to death."

Swallowing harshly, Artemis forced himself to nod, gazing blankly up at the ceiling. This was the first memory he had regained that still left him in the dark as to what had happened and it was a disturbing recollection, to say the least.

He hardly even noticed when Foaly finished his work and called Holly in while he examined his cells under a microscope. Artemis remained lying back on the table, struggling to make sense of the odd and unsettling flashback until he felt her graze his stomach.

He jumped as Holly released a spark of magic into his numerous small cuts and grinned down at him. "So. I hear you're afraid of doctors?"

Artemis groaned, using his arms to push himself upright despite the anesthesia and retrieving his shirt from the counter behind him. "I am not. I actually have a medical degree from Oxford University, for god's sakes. I simply don't enjoy lying here like a specimen and watching Foaly play with knives."

Holly pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear and shook her head doubtfully. "If you say so, Arty." She jumped up to sit on the table next to him and watched as he struggled to button up his shirt, his fingers still lacking the muscle memory it took for him to manage the feat without struggling. He swore quietly, his fingers slipping and sliding over the fabric, and Holly easily snaked her arms around his and performed the task for him.

Holly noticed his silent frustration and tried to smile reassuringly. "Be patient. It's just going to take a while… things will be back to normal soon."

The boy looked at her oddly, dark eyes unreadable, a mask of cool curiosity. He paused, seemingly on the cusp of speaking for several moments before simply shaking his head and looking away.

Foaly chose that moment to interrupt, raising his head from the microscope and walking back over to them. "Congratulations, Artemis, you have approximately three weeks to live. Or you would, if you weren't the only human on the planet with access to our magic. Luckily for you, this is practically asking for a boost of magic; a case like yours is actually usually given to medical warlocks looking to be certified. With a few modifications, of course."

"Well, I doubt there are many clones searching for medical attention. But I do suppose this is good news. How long will it take?"

Foaly shrugged. "A few hours, tops. All the warlock would have to do is find the healthy cells, use magic to replicate them, then use medicine to extract the unhealthy cells, and repeat for each organ. I'd like to keep you underground for at least a day so I can keep an eye on you, but the actual procedure itself is extremely simple. I'd let Holly do it right here, right now if I wasn't worried about the risks. But we're in good shape. Now that I know exactly what I'm dealing with, I'm going to make a few calls; see if anyone's willing to do a little magical surgery on the human hero who should be dead. Holly, having you on the line with me couldn't hurt. I'll need someone to back up my claim that Artemis is alive."

Sliding off the table, Holly grinned at Artemis and Butler before following Foaly out of his Ops Booth, locking the door behind her. Artemis leaned back on his hands and turned to look at Butler, who was sitting on the floor, and had been watching the entire goings on silently. He met Artemis's gaze and nodded slightly, though made no attempt to stand in what was, for him, a cramped space. "Well, it's good that you're going to be okay," Butler said to break the silence. "I suppose it was high time for me to return the favor from London, anyway."

Artemis jerked, the words like a bolt of electricity. _London… the favor from London…_

_Blood blossomed up through spidery hands, spilling over the man's chest, and Artemis's attempts to staunch it were all for naught. Servant coughed, and master stared down in absolute horror, the terror tangible on his breath as he pressed down harder, the crimson evidence of death covering his pale grip. _

_"Artemis." A dying man's final words, his last breath before death overtakes him. "I must… tell you… my name."_

_And Artemis knows what that means; he knows that it means Butler is dying. "No," he spat harshly, and he tries to continue but chokes on fear. His voice is thick with emotion when he finally manages to gasp, "No! You're not dying!" Because he's Artemis Fowl. He can stop the inevitable. He can bring his father back and befriend the fairies do what no man has ever done before. He won't let this happen._

_Butler smiles up at him as the last vestiges of pain drain away, his body quickly losing control and hold on this world. "It's okay, Artemis." A promise that is never true, and, in fact, its utterance often is a sign that things are as far away from 'okay' as possible. "You'll be… fine." _

_No, he won't be. He won't be 'fine'! "Butler, no. No! I can stop this!"_

_But Butler doesn't believe him. He just smiles at him again. "Domovoi." A final breath of air. "Domovoi is my name."_

"Domovoi!"

Butler started, jerking up straighter to stare at Artemis in amazement. "W-what?" he gasped, sure he hadn't heard him correctly.

Artemis shook his head, sucking in a sharp gasp when the roll of memories continued, overwhelming him.

_Happy fifth birthday, Artemis-_

_For god's sakes, Artemis, I know you're bored, but did you have to hack the school-_

_Why did I get the seven year old who asks me to head downtown to intimidate the most dangerous gang in Dulbin instead of the one who asks for a talking pony? _

_I don't care how many times you ask me, Artemis, I will not frighten your headmaster into letting you take the senior's final exams with them-_

_Artemis, I have bad news-_

_Your father's missing_

_Your mother's sick_

_Your father's been declared dead-_

_A rescue mission? We don't have the money-_

_You want to sell the silky sifaka lemur to the Extinctionists? Are you sure?_

_Understood, Artemis_

_Fairies? Are you insane? _

_Never again, Artemis. I'm never kidnapping a fairy again. _

_Artemis, it's about your father-_

_Artemis, everyone can be a threat-_

_Domovoi. My name is Domovoi._

Artemis almost collapsed, breathing hard as memory after memory hit him. He remembered. He _remembered_ Butler. "Oh, god," he gasped, stumbling to his feet and staring at his bodyguard in amazement. "Oh my God, Domovoi."

Butler stared at him in complete amazement, standing slowly, his eyes wide. "Artemis… God, Artemis, do you remember me?"

Artemis nodded slowly, stunned. "Yes. Yes, old friend, I remember you. Oh my God, Domovoi, I remember you. I remember you!"

And that was when Artemis realized he had been wrong. His fear _did_ have a solution- and it lay in his memories. Because he couldn't fear Domovoi Butler, no matter what his alternate persona of Earth had put him through after his death. Domovoi Butler was his friend.

* * *

If Holly said she wasn't jealous, she would be lying.

Was she glad Artemis remembered Butler? Yes.

Was she jealous that it was him instead of her?

Yes.

Holly was glad that he remembered Butler, of course, and wasn't about to complain that he didn't remember her yet. She was happy that he was finally coming back and things were returning to normal again, and happy that he at least remembered one of his friends.

She still couldn't quiet the soft touch of jealously whenever she looked over at Butler and saw someone who was important enough for Artemis to remember. Her friend was still terrified of her, for reasons he had yet to explain, but he _remembered_ Butler. After everything they had gone through together, it was hard to not be just a _little_ hurt at how he couldn't remember her.

_Friends forever. Bonded by trauma._

She sighed again. And so, in the joyous aftermath of his recollection, Holly was torn, thrilled that things were getting better for Artemis and angry that they weren't yet getting better for her.

_He's alive, Holly,_ she reminded herself for what had to be the tenth time in just this past hour. _He's alive, and he's been dead for six months. This isn't about you, this is about him. And you're lucky enough that he's here with us again. Just stop complaining and focus on the positives._

Forcing back her emotions to be dealt with later, Holly stood and looked around the small gathering in the hospital waiting room, wondering how much longer it would be. It had taken a little while, but she and Foaly had finally found a rather eccentric warlock who had agreed to do the necessary procedure in exchange for a surface visa, and, while Foaly had assured her Artemis's life was in no danger and they would be out of here by tonight, she was still impatient to get this entire affair over with.

Foaly was standing in the corner, still a little miffed at the warlock insinuating that his back up lab wasn't as sterile as he'd claimed, occasionally glancing unhappily at his watch. Butler was next to him, barely able to stand up straight without hitting the ceiling and attracting nervous looks from every single fairy who passed by.

Except for one.

Holly stared in shock as Trouble Kelp rounded the corner, heading straight for them, the look on his face one that made even her flinch. She and Foaly exchanged nervous looks as he approached them, his hands actually shaking. "You had better_ pray_ you have a good excuse for the call I just received," he actually snarled. "Because only the gods will save you otherwise."

"Commander?" she asked nervously, sincerely hoping he hadn't found about Artemis. Miracle or not, that clone was still very much illegal. "What's this all about?"

"I just got a call from the major in charge of Chix Verbil. He had some_ very_ interesting things to say about something that happened earlier today. Care to guess what they were, Captain? Foaly? I'm sure you had something to do with this." Trouble shook his head and jabbed his finger at her threateningly. "Now, I'm choosing to be nice and give you the benefit of the doubt, because Chix Verbil isn't the most credible guy under the earth. Please, _please_ tell me that he was simply hallucinating and I can finally fire his D'Arviting, worthless, lying-"

"Excuse me, Captain Short?" The warlock walked right in front of Trouble, cutting him off and seemingly entirely oblivious to his rage. He ignored the frantic look on Holly's face telling him to _shut up_ and said, "I just finished. Your boy's fine; no complications whatsoever. You can see him if you want."

Holly paled at the warlock's stupidity, which couldn't have possibly come at a worse time. Trouble focused on the doctor for a moment before shoving him aside looking back at her in horror. "Oh, gods. 'Your boy'? No. _No._ That does _not_ mean what I think it means. There's no possible way…"

Holly winced and glanced nervously at Foaly, who grinned sheepishly and averted his gaze. Not even Butler's hulking presence could intimidate Trouble, not after the news he had just received.

"You know, I'm just going to… you know… leave," Foaly muttered as he hurriedly trotted off, following the doctor, trying to escape the wrath that was likely to follow once Trouble fully understood what was going on. Her commander turned to stalk after him and Holly smiled uncertainly at Butler, who was watching Trouble rant, clearly amused.

"Foaly, if this is what I think it is, I don't care how _important_ you are to LEP, you are going to have some D'Arviting explaining to do! And you as well, Captain Short!" Trouble noticed how many looks his shouts were drawing and forced his voice lower, but that, by no means, lessened his anger.

Holly had always known that Artemis's existence would have to be both revealed and explained… she just hadn't anticipated it coming so soon. After the trouble caused by Opal's clone, she doubted the Council would be very open to another one being grown in secret, regardless of Artemis's newfound status as fairy hero. She could only hope they didn't come down too hard on her and Foaly for orchestrating his resurrection.

Sure enough, Trouble didn't seem to be very happy when he followed Foaly into the hospital room to find Artemis. He was still unconscious from surgery, but just because his eyes were closed didn't mean Trouble could possibly mistake him for anything but the human who was once public enemy number one.

"Oh, my Gods. Is this… Oh, Gods. What is…. how is _he_ here?!" Trouble stared at the boy for a moment before whirling around to glare at Holly accusingly. "Was he ever really dead?"

Foaly answered for her, which was good, because Holly really didn't know what to say to him. "In a sense. That really depends on your definition of the word 'dead'."

Trouble turned to glower at him, and both Holly and Butler chuckled at his obvious discomfort as he rushed to amend his statement. "I'm supposing, by the look on your face, that you want an explanation."

"You're D'Arviting right I want an explanation! What in Frond's name is going on?!"

Foaly hesitated, glancing pleadingly at Holly for help. Groaning inwardly, she stepped forward, very aware that how she phrased this explanation could influence what was almost certainly going to turn into the Council's discussion over Artemis. "It was the Berserker Gate, Commander. The spell, it didn't take his soul when he died- it only took fairy souls, and his was fully human. Artemis theorized his spirit would be left behind and asked me- if rather indirectly- if we could… grow a clone for him."

Trouble gasped, turning to stare down at the human in horror. "No. After the destruction caused by Koboi because of her clone… you two couldn't possibly be stupid enough to-"

"Commander, the only reason there was so much _destruction_ was because Opal herself intended it. Artemis isn't her, though. He isn't an insane narcissist bent on being named ruler of the fairies, he's not-"

Trouble shook his head vigorously, cutting her off without even having to speak. "So he's actually been alive this entire time? Never mind what could have possibly possessed either of you for you to ever even consider growing a clone- what were you thinking, telling everybody he was _dead?_ What was the purpose of that if he was really alive this entire time? You have people running around thinking he's this martyr who made the ultimate sacrifice-"

"Trouble, he _was_ dead!" Holly shouted, her patience wearing thin. "Artemis only came back yesterday! After all this time, after everything's he done, why can't you just respect him for what he's done instead of holding the past against him? If I can let it go, I should think you can! Or is it just that he's a human? Is that it?"

Trouble's answering glare would have made her back down under _any_ other circumstances. "Don't forget who you're talking to, Captain," he warned. "And, given what I just found out, I think that I'm warranted a little fury."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Holly forced herself to calm down. Trouble did have a point, especially considering how little he knew of the situation. "Trouble, Artemis _did_ make a sacrifice. It's not as if he told us about his plan beforehand and only went after Opal once we promised to grow the clone. Hell, his plan was barely plausible! It's not like it was a sure thing! We barely made the clone in time; he had to hang on for _six months_- Artemis already said he barely managed it. The clone was just an afterthought… he knew before he went to fight Opal that he would probably die and not come back."

Shaking his head, her commander glanced tersely down at Artemis and turned back to watch her. "The Council's not going to like this," he warned. "_I_ don't like this. It's unnatural… not to mention what the public will think. How exactly are we supposed to announce that he's alive?"

Holly shrugged and avoided his gaze, trying not to make it blindingly obvious that she hadn't even thought about it. These past six months had been devoted to bringing Artemis back home, not to public relations- and she honestly had more important things to worry about than how exactly the news that Artemis was now alive would be announced. She cared a lot more about his health and his memory loss than that.

Trouble glared at her and Foaly for a moment longer before shaking his head and forcing himself to deal with the situation at hand. Holly knew he certainly wasn't happy about this turn of events, but one of the things that made him a good commander was that he was able to take whatever came his way and deal with it rather than complain about it- ironically, the exact opposite of his brother.

"Keep Fowl here and under the wraps. Whatever you do, don't let anyone else find out that he's alive." Trouble suddenly blinked, turning back to stare at Artemis in surprise. "Wait, what actually happened? Why is he even here in the first place? Don't tell me you two are wrapped up in one of your sure-to-become-debacles-misadventures again-"

"No, no," Foaly answered. "Not even Artemis could find trouble this fast. He just needed a little magical touch up to keep the clone healthy. He's already started going into withdrawal and I didn't want to push things by putting this off."

Trouble shook his head again. "I'm not interested in cloning science. I wish I didn't even have to ask you. But Chix and _whoever _you got to perform this procedure are the only ones who know about this besides everyone in this room?"

"Yes. Well, just about. I had three assistants help me in growing the clone, but they're sworn to secrecy."

Trouble grimaced. "Things always seem to get more complicated when Artemis Fowl gets involved. You keep him here and don't let anybody else see him. That's an order, Captain. I have to call an emergency meeting of the Council. Resurrection and clones are not going to be something they want to be kept in the dark about."

Holly, Foaly, and Butler watched him leave, none too happy, before Butler turned to look nervously at her. "Holly, your Council… it can't… _kill_ A-Artemis, can they? Because he's a clone? They can't have the power to do that…"

Her eyes widened at the very thought, and she shook her head hardly. "Gods, no. No!" The idea of Artemis being taken away again _now,_ after everything, was too horrible to even think. "No, the Council may like to appear all-powerful, but not even they can legally kill someone- human or not. We don't even have the death penalty."

"Whether his existence is illegal or not is not even the question," Foaly cut in. "It would be whether or not he is a sentient, intelligent, living being- and even Trouble would have to admit that he is after a ten second conversation with him. The Council can't even come after me and Holly- the laws against cloning all specifically prohibit the experimentation or growing of a _fairy_ clone… nothing was ever said about humans." He grinned and shook his head. "Our laws haven't quite caught up with the times. When they were first passed, I don't think anybody anticipated someone like Artemis coming into the picture."

Smiling herself, Holly turned back to gaze at Artemis, who was still asleep. "No," she said softly. "No, they didn't."


	21. Chapter 21

Thank you all for reviewing! Yes, oh yes, there is a reason for the Council's decision in this chapter. You will see its purpose promptly in chapter 22, and I think you'll all like what it is...

By the time Artemis's sedation finally began to wear off, Holly was alone with him. Butler had left to call the boy's parents to keep them updated and Foaly had gone home to his wife. Caballine was still rather irritated, understandably, and so, with the promise of returning later, Foaly had left to try and appease her.

So Holly was left alone with Artemis when he began to stir, shifting in the too-small hospital bed and groaning softly. She smiled and sat up straighter, leaning forward to grasp his pale hand. "Hey," she called softly, gently tugging on his arm. "You awake there?"

Artemis sighed in response to her question, his head falling to the side as his eyelids fluttered. Holly waited anxiously for a few moments before his steel blue eyes flashed open to stare right at her. He remained still for a moment as he reoriented himself before kicking his dry lips before he shifted slightly and spoke, his voice hoarse. "Well. I'm alive. That's good."

Holly shook her head and rolled her eyes. "How observant of you. What, did you expect something different?"

He shrugged. "Magical surgery is a first for me. I had no idea what to expect." He groggily pushed himself upright and looked around the small hospital room, rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Butler?"

"On the phone with your parents."

"Foaly?"

"Home with his wife. Be back later."

"Ah." Artemis nodded and rubbed his eyes again before examining himself curiously. "What's the diagnosis, then? Still set to die in three weeks?"

Holly frowned at him. "No. You're all cured. And don't even joke about that, Arty, not after…" She cleared her throat uncomfortably and averted her gaze before forcefully continuing. "But, yes. You're fine."

He nodded again and stilted a yawn. "You fairies do impressive work. Take me from death's door to hale and hearty and I hardly feel a thing."

"Yes, well, magic does wonders humans can only dream of. Well, _most_ humans can only dream of. You've experienced its benefits quite a lot in recent years."

"So I've heard." Artemis sat up straighter and ran a hand through his messy hair, smoothing it down. He rubbed his eyes sleepily again and looked at her. "What time is it?"

Holly checked her watch and grimaced at the ungodly hour. "Five in the morning. See, I really love you, Artemis- _nothing_ gets me out of my bed this early. And you haven't even been good company."

Artemis smiled slightly and dipped his head. "Thank you for staying, then." He held back a yawn, and Holly squeezed his hand sympathetically.

"Artemis, you're still exhausted… why don't you go back to sleep?"

But he shook his head. "No, no. This is the best I've felt in… well, two days. I have no intention to waste my time asleep, anyway. A genius's work is never done, especially when said genius has a lifetime's worth of memories to regain." He tilted his head to the side and averted his eyes for a moment, then smiled grimly. "Do you mind answering a question for me? I've actually been wondering about something since this afternoon."

"Go ahead."

"Tell me, Holly. What promise was it that you were fulfilling when you kissed me this afternoon?" At her surprised expression, he chuckled dryly and shrugged. "I supposed you would prefer that I didn't ask this in Foaly's company, lest it end up on his blog."

Holly raised an eyebrow. "You remember _horsesense_?"

"No, I heard you complaining about it to Foaly in the shuttle on our way underground. And don't change the subject."

She sighed and bit her lip. She didn't want to confess that she had promised his ghost a kiss in return for him coming back to life; the words sounded stupid enough in her own head, for gods' sakes, and there was no telling how Artemis would take it. After telling him they weren't ever romantically involved, he discovers she had not only kissed him, an alternate personality of his was deeply in love with her, and she had promised to kiss him if he came back? What a way to confuse him.

_This is Artemis you're thinking about, here, _she reminded herself. _He won't ever be confused by something as simple as this._ Besides, if she refused to tell him, that would probably make him think the secret was more than it was. And she was certain that if she didn't answer him, he would find out some other way- and then, it most likely _would_ end up broadcasted to the entire Lower Elements on _horsesense. _

"Okay, Artemis. I'll tell you. But you… have to promise not to laugh." He looked shocked, so she exclaimed defensively, "It sounds silly, Artemis! I … okay. Six months ago, after I found out about your clone, I was on the surface to talk with Butler. I saw the Berserker Gate, where you died, and really couldn't help but wonder if your spirit was actually aware of everything that was going on." At the look on his face, she protested, "You have to understand, Artemis, I was desperate… you had just died and Foaly just kept saying how unlikely it was that your plan would work. And it's not like the first thing I said was a promise to kiss you… I didn't plan on it; it just happened. I found myself promising to kiss you again if you came back, all right? Go ahead and laugh. I know it's stupid; I know that you could never be enticed to do anything with a kiss."

But Artemis didn't laugh. He looked at her oddly for several long moments, his dark eyes unreadable… she almost thought she saw a hint of anger in them.

_No wonder Fire was the clearest voice to me,_ Artemis thought. Butler and his parents hadn't known he was still alive; Holly had. Holly had actually been speaking to him and trying to get him to hang on; it was no wonder her pain affected him the most. And, yes, he couldn't help but be slightly angry at her for that. He knew that it wasn't her fault but that didn't seem to matter. She _had_, intentionally or not, tortured him.

"I'm not going to laugh," he said quietly. "That may have been one request that-" _Fire screams and burns and tortures _"-helped anchor me. Not the request itself, but the fact that you even spoke to me at all." _Wailing and crying and sobbing and it hurts- _"Thank you, Holly."

He shrugs slightly and deliberately tries to lighten the mood, simply because the memories this conversation has brought are not at all pleasant. "Besides, it's something you may brag about. Your promises of kisses are so tempting that it can raise the dead."

Holly glared at him. "Arty… please, don't joke about that. You only just came back and-"

"I do believe it was _my_ death, Holly, not yours. Besides, it wasn't death, not truly. I imagine that would be less pain…ful." Artemis trailed off as he realized his mistake and winced at the look on her face. "Forgive me," he said with a nervous smile. "Whatever medication I was given still seems to be in affect; I'm not quite yet in control of my-"

"Spare me the line, Artemis, you're_ always_ in complete control of yourself. What do you mean, you imagined death would be _less_ painful? …Oh, gods. What exactly happened after you died? You said you remembered-"

"My dear Holly, I thought you agreed to not question me about this. I already told you everything I remember about that."

Holly glared at him. "Artemis, you're lying. You're lying to me and I don't like it. What happened, Artemis? What _really_ happened when you died?"

He sighed, clearly aggravated. "You vex me. Firstly, as I already told you, I am still rather intoxicated and nothing I say should be taken for its full value. Secondly, again, as I already told you, I have answered your questions about that as truthfully and as well as I am able."

Holly groaned and threw her hands up in exasperation. "No, you haven't, Artemis! And, while I'd pay good money to see you _intoxicated_, you aren't now. Oh, my Gods." She got up and started to pace around the bed before turning to gaze at him in alarm. "Tell me what happened."

"No. Holly…" he trailed off, his voice pained. "You don't need to know that. Please, don't ask again."

"Arty-"

Holly was interrupted by Butler reentering the room, and she did not miss the intense relief that overtook Artemis's expression at the sight of him. "Saved by the bodyguard," she muttered under her breath before forcing herself to smile at him, but not before shooting a glare in Artemis's direction.

"Artemis. You're awake."

"So it would seem."

Butler shrugged apologetically and shut the door behind him, casting an annoyed glance at the low ceiling and the chair that would probably splinter under his weight. "Sorry. It's just that Foaly said you would probably be asleep for the rest of the night…"

Artemis shrugged, deliberately avoiding looking at Holly, who didn't appear very pleased with Butler's arrival. "Well, from what I've heard, Foaly's estimates are often wrong." He leaned forward to pat his sixth toe to illustrate his point before shaking his head vigorously, as if to clear it. "But, onto business. I'd like to get back above ground as soon as possible."

Holly bit her lip and Butler crossed his arms, shaking his head. "Actually, Artemis, that's going to have to wait. We're under orders from LEP to remain underground until the fairy Council finishes its discussion. Commander Kelp wasn't very pleased when he learned you were alive."

Artemis frowned. "Commander Kelp… if I remember correctly, he's the one who never quite got over the fact that I was human?"

"Yes. Well, that, and the kidnapping. You humiliated him and he's never liked you since. But he does have a point, Artemis; hardly anyone on the surface knows you were dead, but the same can't be said for the Lower Elements. You're considered a fairy hero, and people will recognize you, and they all know you died. You can't just be seen walking out in public, and we can't tell them the truth; Foaly and you would practically be crucified, after the destruction Opal wreaked with Nopal."

He grimaced. "I suppose simply returning to the surface unseen isn't an option?"

"No. There'd be no way to guarantee a fairy wouldn't eventually spot you and spread the word." Holly sighed and shook her head. "I don't know what the Council will decide, but I think this will put you permanently on their bad side."

Artemis gave a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumped in exhaustion. "I see," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes again. "I'll be sure to be wary of them in the… future."

Holly and Butler exchanged worried looks before Butler spoke up. "Artemis, it's the middle of the night and, by the looks it, you're still being affected by the sedative. You should get some sleep."

Artemis shook his head, repeating his earlier lie of how he had work to do. While it was certainly true, he was no fool; he knew the medication would wear off much faster if he went back to sleep. But he couldn't, not while Holly was here.

Or, as he still thought of her, Fire.

Whether Butler was here or not, he couldn't remain calm as long as he was with Holly, not after what he remembered. And, while he could finally trust Butler again, trust him wholly and implicitly, that didn't mean anything in regards to Holly. She had still tortured him. She was still responsible for his pain and, like it or not, Artemis couldn't trust her. He could not let his guard down around her and _sleep_, not after what she had put him through.

He didn't have any options. It's not as if he could ask her to leave, not without providing an explanation- and he had no intention of revealing what his time in Limbo had been consumed by. Now that he remembered Butler, his resolve to keep what happened a secret was even stronger; he knew Butler had blamed himself for his death, and there was no reason to add to his guilt. It would be simpler for everyone if he simply kept quiet and suffered through the irrational fear until he could remember everything. As already proven, his memories were the solution to the fear. If he could just keep quiet until his memory came back, then everything would be fine.

* * *

It was a full day and a half before the Council finished deliberating and Trouble finally returned to the hospital. Artemis had long since grown sick of the entire affair and had passed the time by reading through essays and articles Foaly told him he himself had posted to the underground websites- under numerous pseudonyms, of course- but was still practically bored to tears. So, needless to say, he was actually relieved, for once, to see Trouble.

"Commander Kelp, I presume?" Artemis asked, taking note of the shiny acorn on his lapel as he stepped into the room. He swung his legs out over the edge of the bed and stood, nodding politely. "Please, tell me you're here to release me."

"You know full well who I am, Fowl," Trouble growled. "And, yes, it is against my personal judgement, but I am here to release you. Although I did point out that this was the prime opportunity to mind wipe you…"

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Commander. After all these years, I'm sure it's still a possibility that I might reveal your existence to the world."

"I don't care what you do, Fowl, I don't trust you. But I'm here to deliver a message, not my personal feelings towards you. It took us this long to get over our disgust at your existence and formulate a plan to reveal it to the People. I don't really care if you like it, because, honestly? You've caused enough trouble already. It's about time we got some payback."

Artemis narrowed his eyes in suspicion while Holly bit her lip. She could tell, just by Trouble's tone, that whatever plan the Council had worked up was going to be ghastly to behold. "Trouble, what are you talking about? What did the Council decide?"

Trouble grimaced, apparently no more thrilled about this plan than he was by Artemis's presence in the Lower Elements. "I didn't come up with this. I also said no when we put it to a vote. But we've decided to reveal that he has been in a coma for six months, not dead, though we will say that he is lucky to not have died. As to when we'll say this, it was decided he'll remain hidden until that godforsaken move '_Mud Man's Redemption_' premieres next week. Half of Haven will be there and he'll make a dammed good impression; the gossip magazines will go crazy."

Foaly frowned for a moment until he understood what the Coucnil was trying to do; then, he stared at him incredulously. "Are you _serious_, Trouble? Are you actually serious? You're trying to take advantage of the fact that so many rumors will spring up, it won't be long before nobody knows what to believe!"

"Well, it's no more ridiculous than a _cloned human_ running around spreading havoc, whether intentional or not, wherever he goes! But I wasn't finished yet. Holly… there's one more thing…"

Holly watched as Trouble looked apologetically at her and gestured at Artemis. It took her a second to understand, but once she did, she gasped in horror. "Oh, no. I'm not… you're joking, right? The Council doesn't hate me that much, surely!"

"Apparently, they do. You're to go with him. It'll create buzz about you and him being 'romantically involved'." Trouble almost looked like he was going to gag at the last two words and shook his head distastefully. "The more we can distract the public, the better. We don't want people to realize that he actually was dead. This way, with all the drek in magazines will be focused on the martyr's triumphant return with the LEP hero. With any luck, they'll be talking about Hartemis or whatever it is they do with celebrity couple names nowadays and no one will question until later LEP's official statement of him being in a coma instead of dead."

"Because, otherwise, people would start pressuring us to grow clones for all their dead loved ones." Foaly shook his head, rolled his eyes, and scoffed. "It's a peculiar plan. It's also a _stupid_ plan. It's also one of the _dumbest plans I've ever heard_. It's-"

"You think of something better, then I'm all ears!" Trouble exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "But you didn't exactly leave us with many options here! Just what are supposed to do, announce that we resurrected Mud Boy here using something that's been outlawed for centuries?! Surely, not even you can be so blind to the public's reaction to _that!_"

"And surely- wait, do I have to go to the premiere?"

Trouble shook his head in exhaustion and groaned. "I don't know why I put up with you. I swear, I don't know. I don't get anything out of it. But, no, Foaly, you don't. Unless people are interested in in a _horse human_ couple- or, as I'd like to call it, an abomination- no, you don't have to go."

Foaly paused, then turned to Holly, pointing at her and laughing. "Ha! This'll just be D'Arviting perfect! Just you and Artemis? The dysfunctional boy who's out of place at something as social as a _gala_ and the woman who'd rather stay at home and watch sports than go put on a dress? Oh, my gods, this is brilliant! Trouble, if you wanted to get me the perfect birthday present, a better budget would have sufficed- but _this!_ This'll make me happy for the next century!"

Holly and Artemis both turned to glare at him while Butler snickered in the corner, picturing the two being forced to go to something like a premiere together. Holly and Artemis spoke simultaneously, both furious.

"I do not like sports, you deranged centaur-"

"I am not agreeing to this ridiculous excuse for a plan-"

"By Frond, I don't _care!_ Both of you are going along with this stupid idea and I'm sure we'll all get our fair share of laughs watching Holly stumble in high heels and Mud Boy being strangled by screaming fans- I don't _care_ whatever your objections are! Little Mud Man and Big Man Man, you're both coming with me to an LEP safe house until the premiere in a week. I already spoke with the doctor you got to perform his procedure- and where in Frond's name did you find him, he's loopier than a box of fruit loops- and he says Fowl is fine to leave the hospital-"

"As I have been since last night. And I never agreed to going to a safe house. I also never agreed to subjecting myself to what is sure to be the torture of-"

"You say torture, I say hilarious," Foaly cut in. "You're _going_, Artemis. You can't dangle an opportunity like this out there, then snatch it back. Ooh, my wife is going to have a field day getting the two of you dressed for this!"

"Look, Mud Boy, the car is waiting outside. I don't like to be kept waiting. And if you would willingly subject yourself to the full might of the LEP when you kidnapped Holly eight years ago, then you can live through what is sure to be that snoozefest masquerading as a movie."

Artemis sighed and tiredly ran a hand through his hair. It took a long moment for him to groan and admit defeat. "Fine. Fine, I surrender. But you just moved to the top of my revenge list, Commander." He accepted the large jacket handed to him by Trouble and pulled the hood up over his head as he was led outside, still dragging his left foot slightly while he walked.

It was Trouble who questioned him on his rolling gait, as the others already knew the reason behind it. "What's wrong with your leg, Fowl? You look like-"

"Nothing's wrong with him!" Foaly exclaimed hurriedly. "Nothing at all! The clone just isn't used to walking and-"

"And Foaly made a mistake and gave me a sixth toe. That, added to the fact that this clone actually has quite poor muscle tone and-"

"Okay, I really wasn't that interested," Trouble grumbled. "But good to know. I won't ask Foaly to grow anymore clones unless I want a mutant."

Foaly muttered angrily under his breath while Artemis smirked at him, and Holly and Butler chuckled. Artemis made it a point to drag his foot behind him, which only aggravated Foaly more. "You ungrateful little…"


	22. Chapter 22

Eek! 100,000 words AND 200 reviews! This is the most I have EVER written and the most reviews I have EVER received- and not just for fanfiction! I am so excited! Thank you SO much, you guys- couldn't have done it without you and your constant support! I'm saving more heartfelt and complete thanks for the final chapter, but, seriously, every single one of you people- THANK YOU! Relax for this and next chapter, because that's when things get heavy. Also, bear with me in the beginning here, because I think you'll all like what happens in the end!

_One week later…_

Artemis watched curiously as Caballine pranced around the safe house, the very picture of excitement. When she had found out that he and Holly were being forced to go to this surely demon-contrived event that he would give anything to get out of, she had actually jumped at the chance to dress them for it. Literally. She had actually_ jumped._

Not only that, but once she had found out that Foaly had been invited to go as well, she had informed him that they were going with them. And so, without much choice in the matter, Foaly, too, was grudgingly standing in the LEP safe house, watching as his wife, who was enjoying herself immensely, got Holly ready.

"Artemis, what are you doing?" Caballine asked, throwing the tuxedo he had kicked to the floor sometime ago back at him. "Put that on! We have to leave in half an hour!"

"That's quite some time. I think I can manage to get dressed before then-"

"Artemis!" Holly yelled from where she was getting dressed in the bathroom. "If I'm going to suffer, so are you! Get D'Arviting dressed now!"

There was the distinct sound of a rip, and Holly swore again, followed by Caballine crying, "Holly, no!" and rushing to stop her from probably ripping the dress in half. Artemis groaned as the sound of the two women arguing filled the tiny safe house and glared at Foaly.

"You had to tell your wife?"

"I've kept enough secrets from her lately, thanks to you. But point taken. I had no idea she'd be this bad." Foaly paused, then smiled knowingly and chuckled. "But I can't wait until she gets her hands on you."

He sighed. "Butler, are you sure you don't want to come? I think I'll need protection. At the very least, Caballine will be too afraid to impose any hideous new 'fashion statements' on me."

Butler, from where he was reading _Guns and Ammo _in the corner, barely even looked up as he snorted. "I don't think so, Artemis. Caballine took one look at me and decided she wasn't going to try and intimidate me into going, and neither can you. No, I'm content to stay behind and watch you suffer on live TV."

"Truly, a wonderful bodyguard that deserves what you pay him."

"Careful, pony," Butler muttered, still without looking up from his magazine. "Unless you want me to follow Master Artemis's upcoming order for me to strangle your wife."

Meanwhile, Caballine was fighting to get Holly into the dress. She had somehow managed to get the sleeves tangled up and her head was lost inside folds of fabric, and she grumbled numerous obscenities as Caballine struggled to straighten out the dress. "D'Arvit, Captain, you can fight off a squad of goblins but you're defeated by a dress?! I guess we're lucky Opal didn't know your one weakness!"

"Hey!" she cried, her voice muffled by the cloth. "You're the one who forced me into this… this… contraption!"

"A dress is not a contraption! A dress is how we attract attention and get what we want!"

"I'm an LEP officer! To attract attention and get what I want, I hit and shoot people! But this godforsaken thing… it's like a D'Arviting straight jacket!"

"Gods, hold still!" Caballine finally exclaimed, getting a hold of the writhing elf and keeping her from tearing the expensive dress. "Just… let… me… there!" She finally pulled the dress over Holly's head and sighed in relief as the elf emerged, blinking owlishly, her red hair an absolute mess and her mouth turned down in a scowl.

"Wow, Holly. I'm glad I decided to do your hair and makeup last. But I am amazed at how you managed to turn this into a debacle in just five minutes."

Flustered, Holly tugged on the annoyingly short dress and shivered slightly, cold in the sheer cloth. "Who designed this thing?! It's not practical at all!"

Caballine just sighed. "What am I going to do with you, my fashion deprived friend? Dresses aren't meant to be _practical._ Now, put these on."

"What?!" Holly exclaimed, horrified at the at least two inches heels Caballine handed to her. "Are you insane?! No! I'm wearing my boots to this dreadful affair."

"Are you insane? You can't wear boots in that dress! It won't match!"

"I don't care whether or not it matches; my boots are comfortable and I can walk in them! Those death traps, on the other hand…"

Caballine shook her head and laughed. "Oh, no, Holly. I got that little body into that little dress and now I'm going to get those little feet into these perfectly safe heels."

"Caballine, I'm warning you-"

The centaur lunged at her, tackling her to the ground, using her four legs to hold her down even as Holly fought to get away. "Holly! Put them on!"

"No!"

"Holly!"

They struggled for several more seconds before Caballine finally succeeded in pinning Holly down and tried to force the shoes onto her kicking legs. "Hold still, will you?! Gods, you'd think I was torturing you!"

"You are, you deranged, demented little-"

"Got it!" Caballine pulled back, breathing hard, the shoes now successfully on Holly's feet. "Finally! Victory!" She stood and moved back, looking down at Holly, who was still flat on her back and gasping for breath. "Come on, Holly, get up! I have to do your hair!"

Holly glared up at her. "Oh, I'll get up all right- Caballine, come here!" She jumped upright, intending to chase after the centaur- but after wobbling on the high heels for a grand total of two seconds, she collapsed again.

Amid Cabalinne's laughter, Holly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and threw herself at the centaur, grabbing her by the ankle. "I am not wearing this!" she cried.

"Oh, yes, you are!" Caballine grabbed onto the door frame and pulled herself- and the struggling elf with her- into the next room, where Foaly, Artemis, and Butler were all watching, slightly alarmed by the sounds they'd been hearing. The moment they saw Holly, her hair mussed and her dress haphazardly thrown on, so high up on her leg it would've made a sailor blush, they all burst out laughing.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Holly shouted, grasping Caballine's side and pulling herself upright, yanking down on the dress to cover herself. "All of you, just be quiet!"

Artemis chuckled, clearly amused. "Oh, dear, Captain Short. Caballine, I'm afraid that I must decline your offer to, eh, '_do my hair_' as well. Just looking at the shape you've but Holly in is more than enough to frighten me."

"Listen here, human. I'm not going to pass up the chance to work on a human- a fairy hero, nonetheless- just because you're frightened. Your turn is coming soon enough."

Artemis glanced pleadingly at Butler, but the bodyguard raised his hands and shook his head. "Don't try to appeal to me, Artemis. I think I'll quite enjoy watching her work with you."

He groaned, turning to watch what was sure to be his fate and Caballine began to work on Holly's hair, straightening it out and shaking her head occasionally. "Artemis, just get dressed now, will you?" she called back to him. "It's going to take some of my best work to salvage this."

"Wha- what do you mean 'salvage' this?! What's wrong with my hair?!"

"Nothing that a few hours with Haven's best hairdresser couldn't cure."

Holly, stunned and not sure if she should be insulted or not, reached up and felt her hair uncertainly while Artemis eyed the tuxedo doubtfully again. "Caballine, I must ask, why can't I simply wear one of my suits to this affair? What could possibly be wrong with that?"

Cabaline gasped, turning to stare at him in horror, looking at him like he had said something deeply offensive. "Artemis Fowl, how could you?" she gasped. "Someone as smart as you should know you just _can't_ do that!"

Artemis glanced over at Foaly, who shrugged and shook his head, just as blank as him. While Caballine pulled Holly away to get her in front of a mirror, Artemis decided to simply admit defeat and surrender to Caballine. Grumbling incoherently under his breath, he grabbed the tuxedo off the ground and headed off to get dressed, Holly and Caballine still fighting in front of the mirror.

"I'm not letting you touch me with scissors!"

"Come on, _please_, Holly! Just this part here in the back! It's uneven! What, did you cut it yourself?"

"_Yes!_"

Caballine groaned. "Oh, for the love of…" With a quick _snip_, she had evened Holly's haircut and quickly began to set about on straightening her hair. "You'd look lovely with curls, but your hair's too short for it. Why can't you be _normal_ and grow your hair out?"

"Oh, that would work out well! A goblin once set my hair on _fire_, Caballine! I was in intensive care for three days because my hair was so long I was on fire before someone got to me!"

"Come on!" Caballine pleaded and pouted. "You can't stay butch forever. I promise I'd help you! You'd look so good with long hair…"

"Ugh!" Holly groaned in frustration and threw her hands up while Butler snickered into his magazine and Foaly actually had to clamp his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing aloud. Holly threw them both a glare that would have stopped a squad of goblins in their tracks while Caballine continued her work, pulling at her hair in ways that could only be constituted as torture.

If it hadn't been for Caballine, half an hour later, they wouldn't have all been shepherded out of the safe house, Holly stumbling in high heels and Artemis still dragging his mutated foot, Butler laughing the entire time. Trouble was waiting for them outside, and he looked none too happy to be there.

"Before you all get too thrilled to see me, you should know that I've not been ordered to go along with you- thank the gods. No, I'm just here to see that you actually follow the Council's orders. We all know how, eh, unreliable Captain Short is when it comes to following orders."

"If you weren't my commanding officer, I'd…" Holly trailed off and shook her head regretfully before tugging on her green dress again. It probable cost more than she made in a year and she couldn't help but wonder why she had to look like a sparkly human's Christmas tree while Artemis got to look distinguished and _normal_ in his simple black tuxedo.

"Let's get this over with," she grumbled, nearly tripping in her shoes as she stormed off to the car. Artemis, Foaly, and Caballine, both men looking rather displeased themselves, followed her.

"Oh, cheer up, Holly. If you can survive trolls, you can survive this."

"Yeah, like you're pleased to be here, Foaly."

Foaly grimaced and remained silent while Holly started the car, driving along the magnetic tracks to the premiere. Artemis, sitting next to her, tugged on his shirt and grimaced. "You know, even without my memories, I seem to recall that I abhor waistcoats."

Holly shot him an annoyed glance. "I don't know what you're complaining about. At least you're wearing a plain color and you're completely covered up. This thing… whoever designed it- and these shoes- clearly hates women."

"Both of you look amazing! You just don't know it yet. Wait until you look at the pictures later; you'll hardly even recognize yourselves."

"With any luck, nobody else will recognize us and I won't have to face any comments at work tomorrow," Holly muttered. Artemis nodded in sour agreement while Caballine just huffed.

* * *

Caballine and Foaly got out of the car first once they reached the theater, leaving Holly and Artemis behind. Holly took a deep breath, then opened the door and stood, smiling back down at Artemis. "Well? You ready?"

He sighed and shook his head. Was he ready to stand and smile and wave at a crowd of people who believed him to be a hero? Who had apparently mourned his death, a subject he wasn't even comfortable thinking about?

"No, I'm not. But I don't believe I have a choice in the matter. As you said before, let's just get this over with." He took her offered hand and pulled himself to his feet, emerging for the crowd.

It was almost cliche. An actual red carpet was rolled out for them, with hordes of eager fans crowded around the entrance held back by a magnetic field- _well, perhaps that part isn't cliche- _most of whom wielded tiny cell phones, which he had to suppose had completely replaced cameras in the fairy's society. They all turned to him simultaneously, and all reacted in exactly the same way when they saw him standing beside Holly. There was a slight gasp as they all froze, eyes going wide in the exact same moment. Artemis was too nervous to find it amusing as they all stared in absolute shock.

It had been completely silent for at least five seconds when a lone voice called out, "It's just John Tribbiani! The actor! It's just the actors for Artemis and Holly!"

Artemis and Holly exchanged uncertain looks as the crowd sighed in relief and started crowned up against the magnetic field, fighting to get pictures and actually touch them. There were exclamations of, 'he looks so much like a human!' and 'how do they do it?' and Artemis, too engrossed by the crowd of fairies and without any idea to say, remained silent. It was Holly who pushed back his hair and tugged on his rounded ear, trying to demonstrate that it wasn't fake.

"This guy's no fairy! He's the real Artemis Fowl!" she shouted, all the while ridiculing the Council in her head for every conceiving such a ridiculous plan.

Artemis, recovering himself, raised a hand and smiled genially. "Greetings, fairies!" he called, struggling to put on an air of confidence- and one that didn't display how he thought of this entire affair- and trying to appear as a triumphant, returning hero rather than a confused adolescent barely even back to life.

His statement was, like Holly's, met by absolute silence. After several agonizing moments passed, she nudged him and muttered, "Start walking." When he didn't move, she forced her arm around his and made him walk with her, trying to smile convincingly. He stumbled slightly before managing to keep up with her.

"Gods, he's real!" someone shouted. It was that voice which broke the spell. Suddenly, everybody was crying out in shock and amazement, fighting to see him for themselves, screaming in excitement.

"Remind me later to exact revenge on your 'Council', Holly," Artemis muttered to her as they hurried out of the uproar.

"I won't have to remind you. I'll be there right along with you."

Once they finally got inside and escaped the crowd, they found Foaly and Caballine waiting for them. "So, judging by the noise, Haven now knows about zombie Artemis?" Foaly asked, ignoring Artemis's annoyed look at the word 'zombie.' "It sounds like the Council's plan has worked, so far; they seem more interested in trying to touch you rather than wondering about why you're alive. I'd expect as such from humans, but I really didn't believe the general population of fairies would be sucked into this scheme."

Artemis sighed and shook his head. "Can we get on with this, please? I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible."

"I think we all do. Now, come on. I want to sit down in the dark where no one will recognize us."

"Are you kidding?" Caballine asked, stopping Holly as she and Artemis tried to make their escape. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Artemis, you get to meet your elf double! Come on, doesn't that sound enticing?"

"While that sounds absolutely _terrific_, Caballine," Artemis said dryly, "I'm afraid I must side with Holly. I've been recognized enough, as of late."

Both intending to stick close to the wall to remain undiscovered- the crowd outside would spread the word soon enough- Artemis and Holly began to move about the room before Caballine grabbed Artemis by the wrist and pulled him away from Holly, dragging him over to meet Tribbiani. Holly briefly considered going to his rescue before deciding to remain in the shadows and watch him suffer through tonight without suffering herself.

"Caballine, please, I don't need to meet him, honest-"

"John! John, it's me, Caballine? Remember from when I interviewed you?"

Artemis groaned inwardly and glared back at Foaly and Holly, who were both laughing at him from the shadows, and turned back around to face the actor who had portrayed him in _Mud Man's Redemption. _And he had to be insulted when he realized the man looked almost nothing like him. He was at least a foot shorter, had light brown hair and green eyes, and had skin as brown as a nut. Really? Was this what the fairies thought he looked like?

Meanwhile, the actor looked like he was about to pass out. Not at all interested in explaining his presence for what had to be the tenth time, he said, "Yes, I'm a ghost. I was dead and now I'm alive again. May we please skip the initial shock value and move on to a meaningful conversation?"

The actor stared motionlessly at him, slack-jawed, and Caballine just sighed. "Yes, because _that's_ the way to calm someone down, Artemis."

Artemis just sighed. This was going to be his entire night. Not working to regain his memory- which was proving to be vital if he wanted to retain anything of his relationship with Holly. Not working on ways to reduce the clone's withdrawal symptoms. Not minimizing the affects his death had clearly had on his friends. No, we was going to waste it speaking with_ celebrities_ and watching the fairy's take on his death.

And so he gritted his teeth and smiled, all the while casting an angry look at Holly and Foaly, who were still watching and laughing from the shadows.

* * *

"I don't see why I have to still be here," Artemis muttered to Foaly, doing his best to ignore all the amazed looks he was drawing. "I made my appearance. Can't I be on my way back to the surface now?"

"If you disappear now, then nobody will believe the rumors that you were ever here. You have to stay throughout the night and let the reporters outside snap a few pictures. It'd help if you got a tan so you didn't look dead, but it's too late for that."

He groaned. "Yes. That's what would help this situation. Not if your Council were composed of anyone with some intelligence- but if I had a bloody _tan_. I'll be sure to keep that in mind for next time."

"What next time?" Holly muttered back to him, joining in on their whispered conversation. "If there's a 'next time' for you coming back as a clone, then I really think I might kill you myself. You better not be thinking of killing yourself for us again anytime soon."

"So, if I die again… you'll kill me. Terrific."

"Good gods, it's an expression, Artemis!"

Artemis smiled and shook his head, even as the lights dimmed and the premiere of _Mud Man's Redemption._ He sighed, settling himself in for what was sure to be two and a half hours of dramatic explosions, stereotypical villains and heroes, a car chase or two, and probably a love story thrown in to please the masses- counting the ceiling tiles would serve his time better- that is, if fairies still used ceiling tiles.

After several minutes of glorified title screens embellished with cheap special effects, the movie finally began. The opening scene portrayed a centaur wearing a jacket with an acorn emblem on the shoulder a human in jeans and a t-shirt, his hair clearly dyed black- Artemis could see hints of brown at the roots, for god's sakes- and with skin so white it looked like it had been painted on. Artemis and Foaly shared a horrified look at their appearances and the topic of discussion- cars. _Cars_. Holly had to stifle giggles in her hand and Caballine actually bit her sleeve, struggling to keep quiet as Foaly and Artemis argued over which was the preferable make and model of a car.

"Oh dear god," Artemis whispered, hiding his face in his hands and sliding lower in his seat. "Is this how the world really sees me? I look like a teenager obsessed with cars. I… I'm wearing_ jeans._" His expression was horrified and and he slumped even lower, closing his eyes.

Meanwhile, Foaly was having his own problems with the portrayal. "What is this? The only electronics that impersonator has on him is watch. That's all. Anybody who's ever seen me knows I have more than that in just my shoe."

Just then, an elf with long, dark red hair that fell past her waist burst into the room on screen, wearing a black skirt that was barely work appropriate and a top that certainly didn't subscribe to the LEP dress code. Holly sat bolt upright at the sight of her, even as Foaly coughed to hide a frantic laugh and Artemis smirked.

"Suddenly, I feel much better," he told her, even as she started in horror at the overly feminine creature that dared masquerade as her.

"Artemis, Foaly!" the Holly-like creature said in a sing-song voice. "The Commander wants to see you. He gave me this file to give you." She handed the file she held in her hands to Foaly, but when he took it, she winced and pulled her hand back dramatically. "Oww, Foaly! You gave me a paper cut!"

Artemis/strange teenager impersonator was instantly by her side. "Oh, my dear! Forgive me; it is so lamentable I lack the magic necessary to heal you. Will you be all right?"

The real Artemis and Holly stared in absolute horror. Foaly snickered while Artemis muttered to a very shocked Holly, "My apologies for asking once more, but I thought you said that we _weren't_ romantically involved… yet I seem to be so out of character that is the only logical possibility."

"There's nothing logical about this, Artemis," Holly muttered back.

The next half hour, Artemis, Holly, and Foaly watched, actually frightened by the ridiculous description of events six months ago they all knew would quickly become the only version most knew. Movie-Artemis actually picked Holly up and carried her over a mud puddle, movie-Holly was currently parading around in clothes that had been ripped and shredded so much she might as well have been wearing a bikini- while Artemis's _shirt and jeans_ were practically untouched- and Foaly was quickly beginning to realize that not even he was being spared in the travesty.

"Don't fear! I'll shall save you!" Movie-Foaly cried as he galloped throughout the mansion, swinging a shiny sword at the army of goblins swarming around his wife. He yelled out another few heroic catchphrases as he violently sliced off the heads off a swath of enemies in his path, the screen filling with a ridiculous amount of blood that fell to reveal him standing triumphantly in the midst of a dozen dead bodies, posing like something you would see in a cartoon show.

Foaly moaned quietly, as if actually in physical pain. "I am not a barbaric swordsman from two thousand year old mythology! These idiots are painting me out to look like Chiron! And since when have we lived in a mansion? Oh, gods, I think I'm going to be sick…"

Artemis was quickly beginning to realize that, whether he remembered events from six months ago or not, he still wouldn't be able to make sense of the horrid tale being told on that screen. In fact, the only reason he knew the thing in jeans walking around shooting skeletons was supposed to be him was because the overly feminine redhead- who he could only guess to be Holly- called him Artemis.

In later days, he would think it ironic that it was such a ridiculous representation that sparked the memory.

On screen, after two and a half hours of pure torture, movie-Holly was kneeling over Artemis, who had collapsed after the Berserker Gate had closed and was dying. "Oh, Arty," she sobbed, "I love you. Don't die!"

In real life, Holly and Artemis just sighed together, having long since realized it was better not to compare the demented creatures on screen with themselves. This was further proven when movie-Artemis said, "Oh, my darling, I love you, too. Don't cry. You'll always remember me." And, with that, he kissed her.

And while Holly held her hands over her ears and closed her eyes, Foaly gleefully considered opportunities for blackmail, and even Caballine began to regret coming to the premiere, Artemis closed his eyes and remembered.

_The tiny woman bowed over the man that should be dead, and he certainly looked it- lying in a pool of his own blood, his clothes torn and caked with mud and scarlet, a vivid red scar on his left arm where the skin had torn and bone had broken through just a few moments ago. The pair exchanged a few words before the woman leaned down and kissed him._

_Artemis shook his head and glanced up at Butler. "Look at them. You wouldn't see me wasting time like that."_

_The woman finally pulled back, and the two spoke again before she helped him to his feet. Artemis shook his head, almost envious. "Such ingenious healing techniques. I wish I had their technology." He watched curiously as she helped him along- he seemed weak, after the ordeal, but he was alive and conscious and didn't seem to be in any pain, something no betting man would have put money on. _

_"Artemis, whatever that is, I don't want to get involved. The man should be dead; whatever 'healing technique' they used… if I didn't know better, I would say it was magic. They seem more powerful than any of our escapades such far. We should back out now. They want the lemur; that's it. We can find some other way to make money."_

_"If they were 'magical beings', as you say, I doubt that gorilla would have been able to tear the man apart."_

_"But look at what the woman did, Artemis!" Butler exclaimed. "She… she_ spoke_ to it. She convinced it to let the man go. Master Artemis, I realize that you're in charge, but I must urge you to reconsider. I don't think these people are just going to give up once they realize we're gone with the lemur. They've come this far and who knows what they're willing to do… I think we're getting involved in something deeper than you realize."_

_Artemis watched the pair for a moment longer before turning on his heel and gesturing for Butler to follow. "It is they, old friend, who are getting involved in something 'deeper than they realize'. And I think they will come to regret the day they ever crossed paths with us."_

_Groaning, Butler followed after his young charge, but not without casting a glance over his shoulder. "I still think that I've seen that man somewhere before… he looks very familiar."_

_Artemis gave a tired sigh. "You've been saying that all day. Though I must agree with you, I do believe I would remember seeing one as unique as him, especially with dichromatic eyes."_

_"He looks… almost like your father."_

_"Yes, well, my father is most likely in Russia and is certainly not concerned with the welfare of a lemur. He also has two blue eyes and is at least twenty years older than the man. Come on, old friend. Leave the two lovebirds behind. If you're right in them not letting go of the lemur this easily, and I do believe you are correct, I relish the opportunity to go against them once again. They are worthy adversaries. Truth to be told, I never thought I would get the chance to go against someone as resourceful and smart as myself. If he weren't so invested in animal rights, I would recruit him."_

_Butler shot him an alarmed look. "You're not serious, Artemis! That man cheated death. I don't want to know how and I don't want to get involved."_

_His young charge gave another regretful sigh. "You know, I always wanted to be the first to cheat death. I suppose I'll have to settle for the second."_

_"You will not settle for anything," Butler said sharply. "You're not dying on my watch."_

Holly didn't notice anything was wrong until she felt Artemis's head slump on her shoulder. She turned to look at him in confusion and was shocked to see him shaking, his head lolling on his shoulders, his eyes half open. Holly reached over and grasped his shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Artemis. Artemis, what's wrong?"

He didn't seem to hear her. He bucked in his seat, twitching even as Holly held him down by his wrists and leaned across him to hiss, "Foaly! Foaly, something's wrong with Artemis!"

The centaur moved closer, manually raising Artemis's eyelids and examining him as best he could in the dark, cramped space. "I think he's going into shock. Artemis! Artemis, can you hear us?"

The boy continued to shake and made no reply; he coughed lightly, his arms straining against Holly's hands seemingly of their own accord. "Foaly, what's happening? I thought you said he was fine!"

"This isn't a reaction to the surgery! That was over a week ago; I don't know what this is!" Even as Foaly spoke, Artemis's struggles intensified, his mouth going slack as he coughed again and trembled, as if he was about to have a seizure. "Frond! Holly, we have to get him out of here. Come on, help me get him up."

Holly pulled Artemis's shaking arm over her shoulder and heaved him upright. He merely slumped against her, his legs giving out before Foaly took some of his weight as well to stop him from collapsing completely.

* * *

_He's going to die. He knows it. His plan has a 20% chance of success, at best- Artemis knows the odds are against him, and he can only cheat death and prevail against the lowest of odds so many times. He has a back up plan, but it's beyond likely these are his last few hours alive. _

_And he doesn't know what to say to Holly. There's so much but his time is short; he only has a few moments before she falls asleep. He wants to apologize in advance for the pain he knows he's going to put her through, to tell her to tell Butler not to feel guilty, to tell her to look after his family and make sure his brothers are okay. He wants to tell her she can't feel guilty about this._

_But there is this overpowering urge for him to make her understand what's she's done for him, that he would have never come this far if it weren't for her. He needs to thank her for helping him grow up into who he is now instead of the criminal sociopath he was when he was younger. She helped him grow up… and even if he was going to die at the age of fifteen, she still gave him happiness. He couldn't die and never thank her._

_And so he leans down to her ear and whispers, "I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you."_

Artemis's vision began to clear as the rush of almost sixteen years worth of memories finally began to slow, though it by no means ceased. He became vaguely aware that he was shaking violently and felt hands on his shoulders, trying to hold him still. Artemis blinked, and the grey haze of memories surrounding him lifted to reveal Holly leaning over him, her eyes narrow in concern. Panting for breath, Artemis took a moment to reorient himself before shaking off her hands and slowly pushing himself into a sitting position, shaking his head to try and clear it.

"D'Arvit, Artemis!" Holly exclaimed, even as she let out a heavy sigh of relief, then pushed him back lightly. "Don't scare me like that! Gods, haven't you put us through enough already?!"

Artemis just shook his head, at a loss for words, barely able to sit upright as the memories continued to hit him. Holly continued on, unaware of his dilemma. "Foaly's outside, pulling our car around so we didn't have to drag you so far. We got out of that godforsaken theater without drawing too much attention to ourselves… Foaly says you went into shock, I think."

"No," he gasped hoarsely, blinking past the barrage of memories. "No. That's not… I'm fine." He locked eyes with her and the strongest memory, of Holly starting up at him as he prepared to go to his death and him trying to think of what to say to her, returned again.

"I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you."

And those words, they helped solidify the reality that he can remember. He cleared his throat and Holly stared at him, clearly confused, before she nodded in understanding.

"It's okay. Foaly said you probably wouldn't be very coherent if you woke up-"

"No!" He shook his head again, trying to make her understand. "No. I remember. I remember, Holly."

She almost choked. "You… you _what?_" she gasped, her eyes widening. "You… you remember me? Everything?"

Artemis nodded slightly. "Yes. …Everything. All of it."

"Oh, gods." Holly instinctively pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around him, and was more than surprised when she felt one of his arms move around her, as well. "How? I- Artemis, please tell me it wasn't that ridiculous movie that triggered you to recall…"

He pulled back from her and nodded again, smiling. "Yes. I'm sure you'll never let me forget it, but yes. I saw her kissing him and it made me remember when I watched you kiss me in that gorilla cage, when I was eight… I remembered that, and everything just came back all at once."

Holly laughed, actually giddy with relief, and shook her head. "I don't care. I don't care what made you remember, I'm just glad that you do." When Artemis nodded back, Holly realized that, for the first time this entire week, he hadn't flinched with every sentence she spoke. "You… you're not afraid of me anymore."

Artemis blinked, then suddenly averted his eyes and shrugged. "I don't know what you mean."

"No... no! I'm not letting you do this again. You _do_ know what I mean. You look like I hit you every time I open my mouth… and now, you don't. I understand you not telling me before, but… now? Can't you trust me?"

"It's not a matter of trust. You just don't need to know."

"Yes, I do! Whatever I did, it's clearly-"

"Holly, you didn't _do_ anything!" he exclaimed, clearly frustrated. "Now that I can remember you, I can promise that it won't be an issue anymore. Please, just forget about it."

Holly sighed angrily and shook her head. "You're not making any sense. What does your memory have to do with…"

Clearly annoyed, Artemis got to his feet and turned away from her, shaking his head. "I'd forgotten how stubborn you were. A curse, if also an attribute we share," he muttered harshly under his breath before turning back to face her. "Do you really want to know why I was afraid of you, Holly? Will that please you?"

"No, but it'll sure as hell make things a lot less complicated!"

"Then I'm sure you will be happy to know that it wasn't just your voice I heard in Limbo. With no physical body, I felt you and your pain. You bloody _tortured_ me, you and Butler and my parents; every time I tried to let go you would rise up and hold me back and make it hurt so much I couldn't concentrate enough to fade away. There was _nothing_ I could do but hover there and let you steadily kill me- and I didn't remember any clone, I didn't remember what I was hanging on _for_, all I could remember was existing in a world where every_thing_ and every_one_ hurt me. But there were four in particular that stood out, and you, you were the most sadistic of them all- the ringleader, the executioner, the one who hurt the most whenever I even dared think of giving up.

"And so, yes, Holly, I was afraid of you. How could I not be, when whenever you opened your mouth, I heard the voice of the spirit from Limbo? When my only memories of you were of you torturing me? All your pain, I felt as _physical agony!_ Do you have any idea what is like, to just barely exist and all your senses are consumed by pain for eternity- because there's not time, not in Limbo; I had no idea how much time had passed!- and when you come back, the one who claims to be your best friend is also the one who _tortured _you?!"

Artemis instantly regretted the words the moment he saw the look on Holly's face, but he almost hadn't been able to help himself. Holly had spent the last week badgering him, asking him every chance she got why he was so afraid of her, and after the rush of finally regaining his memories, so had come the truth of what had really happened in Limbo.

But he still wished he could have at least phrased it differently as Holly's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widening in horror. She struggled to speak for several moments before she finally gasped, 'Gods, Artemis. I'm…. I'm _so sorry_, I… I didn't know. I really didn't know. I thought… oh, gods, you must hate me now…"

Artemis froze, the guilt her words betrayed and the horror struck luck on her face dissolving any anger left over from what Fire had put him through in Limbo. "You… you think I resent you?" he asked, stunned. "How could I _possibly_ resent you, Holly? I positively adore you. Not only do I owe you my life, my family, my happiness- tell me, in what alternate dimension could I _ever_ hate you?"

"Artemis, you _died_ for us. For my people. You _died_. I… I D'Arviting tortured you for six months while you were in Limbo, I-"

"No. You stop right there, Holly." Artemis paused and ground his teeth, as if frustrated, then snapped, "I do not permit you to blame yourself for that. I'm glad it happened; I'm _glad_ you tortured me. Yes, if it could have been accomplished any other way, I would have been thrilled, but that _was_ the only way I could stay alive. I'm lucky to have friends who care so much about me. You can not feel guilty about it."

Holly glared at him for a moment, then grabbed him by the shoulders and exclaimed, "How can you possibly be _glad_ about what I put you through?! I _tortured_ you! I put you through hell and I-"

"You kept me _alive_. You weren't aware that you were hurting me and I'm only here now because of you. _Thank you_. I can never thank you enough. I-"

"Stop _thanking_ me, Artemis! I only helped fix the problem I caused; that hardly warrants a parade! Gods, I just…" Holly trailed off and shook her head furiously, looking like she actually wanted to hit him. "Artemis, you… you _infuriate_ me sometimes! You just…"

Artemis sighed regretfully. "You see, this is exactly why I did not want to tell you of my experience in Limbo. I didn't want you to feel guilty."

"Oh, give me a break, Artemis! You never decide anything due to your worry over someone's _feelings!_ It's all math and physics, with you! You never cared about who you left behind when you died; it was just a simple calculation!"

Artemis's eyes widened, and he stared at her in shock before shaking his head and regaining his composure. "It saddens me that you have such a low opinion of me, Holly. Perhaps I was as you describe when we first met, but you think I could possibly just _forget_ about you and Butler and my family and my friends? Holly, I felt awful about tricking you, about the guilt I knew I was leaving Butler with, about my family- the decision was not made lightly! It was agonizing, and not just because of its consequences for myself. Forgive me, Holly, but what exactly would you have had me do? Let Opal succeed? Even if you had gotten me and Butler underground so we would have survived, my family still would have been killed. Mulch and Foaly and the entire People and _you_ would have had to fight to suppress her. You think I could have possibly lived with myself if I knew I was responsible for your suffering, and all it would have taken to circumvent the entire situation was a simple sacrifice on my part?"

"Your _life_ is not a small sacrifice!"

"Versus the entire human race, I think it is!"

"Gods, Artemis!" Holly shoved him back and continued to yell. "You just… you don't get it, do you?! When someone cares about you, you can't just go running around committing suicide for the human race! And another thing you can't do? You can't give me _gold_ when you die and act like that'll make it all okay, because it won't!"

"Yes, because that's what I was aiming for!" he yelled, exasperated. "I was trying to make everything okay with gold! _That_ was my goal! Holly, I was simply returning something I took from you, something I took selfishly and caused you great pain with. It wasn't more than that. I know better than to try and buy your friendship or forgiveness."

"My forgiveness? My forgiveness for _what?!_"

Artemis sighed tiredly. "Holly, when I wrote my will, I still had that gold sitting in my bank account. I hadn't used a single sliver of it, because every time I tried, I would think of you and what I did to you to obtain it. It was yours, by right, anyway. Perhaps I bested you the night I kidnapped you, but you've long since bested me. If it weren't for you, I would be the heartless head of a criminal empire, Father dead, Mother still sick, and Butler would probably have deserted me years ago or been killed. I owe you everything. The gold I gave you is worth nothing in comparison, but I-"

"Artemis, you don't have to pay me back! We've taken a lot from you, too! How many times have you been injured or nearly killed because of us? For gods' sakes, you lost three years for the demons! You actually _died! _Gods, you can't trick me, run off to kill yourself, then have the _nerve_ to give me gold and ask if I can consider you a friend after _one_ bad act almost eight years ago! Do you have any _idea_ how angry you made me?!"

Artemis glared back at her, his dark eyes hardening. He looked like he was about to shouting before he took a deep breath and calmed himself. He opened his mouth, then shut it again and shook his head. "Do forgive me, Holly… that was not my intention. But it wasn't as if I had any choice. I thought I was going to die. I couldn't just go without telling you that you did mean something to me; that these past four years weren't just nothing. I'm sorry if it only made everything worse, because that was never my goal. Perhaps I wasn't thinking of how well my message would be received, but I did have other things on my mind, as I'm sure you understand. I was just thinking of how my clone plan most likely wasn't going to succeed and I didn't want to leave you and my family behind with nothing."

Holly allowed herself to calm down as she averted her eyes. Yes, she had been furious when she read Artemis's will, but he was right. He had been about to die; Holly doubted anything he'd said would make her happy.

But his death was a thing of the past. He was alive now. No matter what he had put her through or, as she was now discovering, what _she_ had put _him_ through during those six months, he was finally back again. He had his memories and his life. She just had to focus on that.

When Holly finally spoke again, her voice was considerably calmer. "Artemis, promise me something."

"Yes?"

"Promise me that you'll _never_ do something like that again."

Artemis lowered his head and smiled, nodding. "Normally, I'd dislike the notion of promising this, since I can not predict future circumstance."

"But?"

He smiled again. "Perhaps I could promise- you know, for you, and all that other romantic nonsense. I've put you through enough, after all."

Holly chuckled and nodded back. "You have. But I'm serious, Artemis. Promise me."

"I promise. Of course, that says nothing for the actions of others. You never know who may interfere and try to kill me again."

"I'll take what I can get… welcome back, Artemis."


	23. Chapter 23

I'm so sorry for this being up late... I was so sick yesterday I couldn't even make it over to my computer. BUT, now... Thank you all for reviewing! And, actually, no- it's not about to end. It's over 2/3s of the way complete in posted material, but this won't be over for... about... six chapters? (I do not have them all written yet, but they are looking like they'll be shorter than my normal standard). I also do not own the lyrics to the song/lullaby/whatever-you-want-to-call-it in the weird hallucination thingy in this chapter. I took them from a Legend of Zelda music video- Laruto's Lament, by Alisa. Also, because they are song lyrics (and I did not write any of them or change them to be correct), remember that grammatical errors are to be expected. Latin put into modern songs is often mangled so badly it is actually unreadable, so I believe I have creative license here. If would you like the literal translation (or the songwriter's translation), just PM me or tell me in a review.

_Two weeks later..._

When Holly swung by Fowl Manor on her monthly trip to the surface to perform the Ritual, she was expecting Artemis to be waiting at the window for her, as they had discussed- she supposed his parents wouldn't be very keen on her visiting at strange hours of the night, and it was already their custom to meet in secret, as his parents hadn't known about her for very long.

So, needless to say, Holly was surprised to find the window closed when she flew up to Artemis's room in the dead of night. She frowned and flew closer curiously. It wasn't like Artemis to forget. Holly hovered outside of the window, still shielding, and cautiously tapped on it.

It only took several for seconds for the tinted window to suddenly jerk open as a massive hand reached out and grabbed at what should have appeared to be thin air, pulling her inside before she even had the chance to react.

Holly barely had time to panic before Butler set her down on the floor, appearing both apologetic and confused. "Sorry about that. You never know what curious human is watching the skies, nowadays; the last thing we need is a conspiracy theory about floating midgets haunting the room of the supposedly dead heir." Butler's voice was unusually soft and Holly looked around in confusion before she spotted Artemis.

He was fast asleep in bed- and he didn't look well at all. His breaths were quick and shallow and his complexion was washed out- he seemed to be unhealthily pale, even for him, and coughed slightly, even in his sleep. Holly blinked. He had looked fine just last night when Holly had told him to wait up for her. "Frond, what happened?" she asked, looking up at Butler in concern. "He was just fine yesterday!"

Butler nodded. "Yes, he was- until he passed out last night. His parents called a doctor and I knew it would take longer for you to get here than a human, so I let them. Seems he came down with a serious case of pneumonia; the doctor said there's been an outbreak of the common cold in Dublin and said he assumed Artemis was just more susceptible to it; that's why he developed pneumonia. I was actually just about to call you… how'd you know?"

"I didn't." Holly shook her head and moved around him to watch Artemis. "I'm here because we set up a meeting last night when I came up here to do the Ritual. It's a standing date, actually- every full moon. Ever since he got his memory back after we mind-wiped him, we met every month until he got Atlantis, and then…" Holly trailed off and shrugged self-explanatorily. _Then he was underground insane and then he died. _

"So, now that you're here- there's not any reason to be concerned, is there? We obviously didn't tell the doctor that Artemis's body is a _lot_ younger than he looks… something tells me that was relevant information that the doctor needed to know?"

Holly frowned, beginning to call Foaly through her helmet. "I don't have a medical degree, but I think you're right. Listen, I'm getting in contact with Foaly. Would you mind standing outside the door and watching out for his parents?"

"You know, you don't have to hide from them anymore. They know you exist."

"Yes, well, they don't know I'm been breaking into the place every month for years."

Butler paused, then chuckled. "Good point. I'll be outside and warn you if someone's coming."

"Thanks." Holly watched as he left and shut the door, the sound of which roused the slumbering boy from behind her. Holly pushed up her visor and turned back to face him, smiling slightly at him.

Artemis gave a low groan and looked around the room blearily, seeming almost completely out of it. He stared at the ceiling for several long moments, breathing heavily, then raised his head slightly to look around the room before his eyes locked on her figure. "H-Holly?" he asked with a frown. "What are you... the full moon. Of course. I'm so sorry, Holly, I forgot."

"It's fine. I don't think you forgetting this is going to cause any permanent damage, though you may have hurt my feelings." Her smile broadened and she shrugged. "You may have to be extra nice to me to make up for it."

"Making the sick boy do all the work? That's kind, Captain. Very humane."

"What can I say?"

"That you'll gift me with a few sparks of magic?"

Holly chuckled and shook her head. "I'm waiting on Foaly to answer my call. Until then, no. Besides, I'm up here for the Ritual; I haven't performed it in almost five months and don't have much magic to spare. These have been a particularly busy past couple of months and I've used more magic than normal."

"Foaly? No... don't call him. It's unnecessary."

"It's just a precaution, Artemis. I'm sure he'll say it's nothing..."

Artemis coughed, watching from his bed as Holly waited for her connection to get through to Haven. "Holly, you don't have t-to do… this," he gasped, his speech interrupted by another cough. "I'm f-fine."

"And yet, you're bedridden with a virulent case of pneumonia. I'm calling him, just to be sure."

"I am not _bedridden_," he retorted sourly, even as he coughed again. "This is just a result of my mother and Butler being overprotective. I am fine, I… I a-assure y-you."

Holly shot him an annoyed look. "Stop talking, will you? You're starting to wheeze."

Artemis grimaced but acquiesced. Last night, he had developed an acute case of pneumonia, complete with fever, chills, and chest pain. Ever since he had collapsed in the hallway fourteen hours ago, he had been confined to his room- Butler's orders- and subjected to numerous check ups by a shaky, nervous doctor that Artemis himself was more educated than. He wasn't at all pleased by the degree of overprotectiveness exhibited by both his parents and Butler, and was even more annoyed that Holly had decided to jump on the train overprotectiveness as well.

"I have the immune system of a six month old," he said, yet another interrupt to plead his case to her. "Why Foaly never inoculated me, I don't know, but it's nothing to be concerned with!"

"Really, Dr. Fowl? What would you do if a patient of yours was a six month old newborn with pneumonia? What would you recommend?"

Artemis rolled his eyes. "That was actually a question on my GAMSAT, and I'll have you know the correct answer was not 'panic like he's on death's door and call a centaur for help'. I would do a chest X-Ray to confirm and prescribe antibiotics." While Holly simply ignored him and continued waiting for Foaly to pick up, he groaned and exclaimed, "At least be helpful and ask him to synthesize me up some morphine. Or demerol. Yes, demerol. That's less addicting."

Holly shot him an odd look before refocusing on her call as Foaly finally answered. "Hey, Foaly, it's me. I'm on the surface, with Artemis- he's got pneumonia."

"Really? That's odd. I could've sworn that was one of the vaccinations I gave him. Let me check…"

Holly relayed the information to Artemis, who groaned heavily and coughed before replying sourly, "Vaccines don't last sixteen years, centaur! Do you know how many times my cells have divided in the past six months in comparison with ones at a regular growth rate? The likelihood of the vaccination still being in affect is _zero!_" He coughed again and lay his head back, running his sleeve across his slick forehead. "Just pass me your ring, will you? This clone seems to be having a _lot_ of ill health affects I'd like to blame on him."

"He also seems to be more irritable than normal."

"Do you not realize that I'm right bloody here?!"

Holly chuckled at Artemis's growing irritation and watched as the human shifted uncomfortably and winced. "And do tell him to synthesize me some demerol; I wasn't kidding."

"Of course you weren't. You never are."

Artemis just sighed unhappily and listened on as Holly spoke with Foaly. "So, is this something we should be concerned about?"

Foaly hesitated, then said, "I don't _think_ so. Just make sure you keep an eye on him and call me if his fever spikes. …You know, I don't actually have a medical degree. You're trusting me to make wise decisions I'm not even authorized to make in the first place."

Holly chuckled. "Oh, and you were _authorized_ to grow a clone, then?"

"Hey, I'm just saying. I'm the technical consultant, not the medical consultant. If you want to be entirely safe, you should still call a human doctor."

"Oh, because that will go over well. 'Doctor, your patient is a six month old clone; I have a question about his immune system? Oh, and did I mention he's been dead for half a year?' I'd give him a heart attack!"

Artemis rolled onto his left side so he was facing Holly and winced, listening dully to her ongoing conversation with Foaly. It had been a measly two weeks since he had regained his memories, and just when he had finally begun to adjust to life among the living once again, he was hit with pneumonia. Nothing to make you feel healthy like an acute case of lung disease.

He cast a sour glance at the door to his room- which he was sure Butler was watching in case he tried to leave- and winced again as he inhaled. He didn't feel well enough to make it to his study, where his laptop was, otherwise he would at least be able to work. With a set of overprotective parents, a worried Butler, and a stubborn LEP Captain standing in his way, though- not even he would take those odds.

Holly finally exchanged goodbyes with Foaly before she turned back around to face him, kicking her feet up on his desk as she did so. "Well, Arty, seems as if you're in luck. As long as you don't get worse, Foaly says there's no reason to be concerned."

"There's no reason for _him_ to be concerned," Artemis corrected. "I'm not exactly in heaven right now. As I said earlier, a few painkillers would be nice. Or a shot of magic. I've heard it does wonders for illnesses."

"Out of curiosity, who did you hear that from? But no. Foaly says no magic; he wants your immune system to get built up to normal standards, which won't happen if we go around giving you magic every time you get sick. Seems like you'll have to get better like a normal human, for a change. And while I can't make you any painkillers, Foaly can. He'll actually be up here sometime tomorrow morning."

Artemis groaned, propping himself up on one elbow and watching her steadily as she stood, sliding her helmet over her ears again. "Why? I told you already; I'm fine. He doesn't need to come to the surface."

"He insisted, although I'm sure he'll complain tomorrow. I think it's because there's a sexual harassment seminar at work tomorrow and he wants a reason to be gone. Honestly, if you had so much as coughed, I'm certain he would be on his way here." Holly shook her head distastefully and chuckled. "See, there's a reason I picked _today_ to stop putting off the Ritual. The annual sexual harassment seminar has always proved to be a disaster, as Lili and I are the only females and she's dumb as a troll."

Artemis sighed regretfully. "I'll be sure to hack into LEP for videos of these seminars; I'm sure they would raise my spirits, regardless of whether I had pneumonia or not. But if you're going to insist upon staying, please, amuse me. I fear I may die of boredom."

"While can't you be like a normal Mud Man when you're sick? Most are perfectly content to laze around and complain. You, though; if you're not working, you're not happy."

He shrugged, sneaking his cold hands back under the blanket as he replied, "I can not afford to, as you so eloquently put it, 'laze around'. I need my laptop."

"If you asked nicely, perhaps I would get it for you."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "'Perhaps'?"

"Well… perhaps not… but I still think it would be amusing to make you ask nicely for it."

With a heavy groan, Artemis shivered again and rolled his head back to stare up at the ceiling. "One of these days, Holly, I am going to tire of your irksome ploys and ask you to leave and not come back."

"No, you're not," she said cockily, standing and sauntering over to his side. "You'd never do that. See, we're _friends_, Artemis- bonded by trauma, remember? Friends for life, I believe you said. Look that up in your mental dictionary."

Artemis gave another tired sigh, still gazing blankly at the ceiling. "I'm afraid I don't have a definition for that phrase. However, you should leave. This night and full moon will not last forever, and I assume you did not come all this way simply to speak with me."

"Correct." Holly pushed her visor down and walked back towards the window. "I'll only be gone for an hour or two. Three at the most, so-"

"Take your time, Holly," Artemis said through a yawn, waving her away. "I know how rarely you get to enjoy your time on the surface. Besides, approximately ninety percent of pneumonia cases present with fatigue, and it seems I am not within the lucky ten percent that escape it. I doubt I will be able to provide the most engrossing company. But would I be regress if I requested at least a spark of magic before you left?"

Holly nodded and leaped onto the sill. "Sorry, Artemis. But no benefits of having magical friends; not this time. As of now, you only got magic for injuries. So, if you somehow manage to break your leg, I'm there for you; otherwise…"

"Ah. Terrific. If I'm mortally injured, then there's no need to worry, but if I get bloody chicken pox, then you'll be content to watch me suffer."

"Oh, quit your whining. If you can handle this, you can handle chicken pox. Now, stop drawing me into the conversation. I really do have to leave to perform the Ritual."

Artemis nodded. "I know. Go."

"If you say so, sir." She grinned at him from behind her visor before flinging herself out into the night sky, fizzing out of the visible spectrum while Artemis watched. With another miserable sigh, he shifted so he was lying on his back and stared up at the ceiling. With Holly gone, he was now left in the company of nothing but a constant cough, a sharp chest pain, and ever-present chills. He groaned. While he was beyond grateful he was even alive at all, he couldn't help but be a little miffed at how unhealthy the clone was.

From out in the hall, he heard Butler say loudly, "Oh, you want to check on Artemis again, Dr. Parker? Sure, no problem. But, if you don't mind, I have just one question…"

Artemis groaned again. "Bloody hell," he muttered aloud. Butler's probable warning to Holly that a human was coming, so she had better shield, was now going to serve him instead of her. He himself had more certifications than the doctor his family had employed for this- as the usual family doctor still believed him to be dead- and saw no reason to allow himself to be subjected to yet another entirely worthless examination.

He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep so the doctor would leave him alone, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, faking sleep when one is already suffering from fatigue more often than not results in the patient actually falling into an unintended sleep- which is exactly what happened. Artemis was asleep before the nervous doctor had backed out of the room the way he had came.

* * *

Hazy figures blurred in and out of Artemis's line of vision. The voices rose and fell in a soft wave, and several words stood out, floating out of the conversation to hover out in front of him- _high fever_, _delusions_, and _hallucinations_ among them. A figure framed in watery edges with long, amorphous hair moved back, her figure shimmering brilliantly like liquid light, and her contrast, a black shadow with sharp, defined edges, an angular figure that stood out against the shaky background, remained still.

Artemis tried to speak, but he heard nothing but a low moan. The black figure responded with a soft waving of a limb that he supposed was meant to be comforting while the woman moved closer and spoke again, but words were indiscernible in the rushing waterfall that was her voice.

A dark call broke the two figures away from him once again, the distant voice seeming far away and barely audible to him when compared to the white and black above him. The two exchanged a few hushed words, a gentle wind in the swirling of colors that caused them to blend and mix like someone had poured water over a painting, and then the white was gone, leaving the black alone.

The black, a stark contrast to the whirling background, seemed to appear as melancholy. He lifted his hand and touched Artemis's forehead with a wet tendril of ice, and with it came a great chill, even as the swirling haze lifted slightly. Words became clearer, and he was able to hear a soft, "_Sorry,_" in the mix of of colors and rushing sound waves that accompanied the both nauseating and soothing background. The cool touched him again, and, with it, stars glittered and the background became still, hard dots of light shining around the mass of dark.

Artemis struggled to speak, his pained breaths coming in short and quick, but the figure hushed him. It spoke again, words not of any English or old Irish tongue, but he recognized them, nonetheless. The language, yes, but the words themselves were familiar and struck a memory, the stars brightening and shining harder as the words vibrated, striking a chord, calling up a memory.

"Ad idem

Ad inifitum

In memoriam

Cor Unum

Vi et amis

Vale"

The words, he remembered the words. Artemis tried to say so, but the hot haze weighed heavily down on him, like a thick fog that was suffocating him. He coughed again before the chill touched his forehead once more. He shivered harder, even as the haze lifted even more. The figure gained a hint of color, a splotch of white in the night, and it spilled around the edges to form a human being rather than a black creature of darkness. The figure was vaguely recognizable…

"F… Father?" His weak voice was rent by a cough, but the figure nodded, nonetheless.

"Yes, Artemis."

He coughed violently again, and his father tried to still his tremors with a light touch, but Artemis could only wince at the sharp pain in his chest and cough again. He barely managed to get out a single sentence, but it was enough to convey his message. "Ad… idem?"

He nodded again, and a splash of blue dropped over his head and gave vibrant color to an otherwise black and white form. His voice was warped by the swirling colors, but he continued on, his speech rushing and stretching in a world so surreal it was almost a dream. "That was a song your mother sang to you when you were first born. I… I was never there when she did so… but this is what Butler told me."

Artemis didn't have the strength to speak again, nor did he want to, with the swirling lights and odd drops of color giving vibrant, unnatural color to the bland scene. They were mesmerizing and distracting, but his father continued, his voice rising with the new addition of red and yellow to the ceiling.

"I used to ask her not to sing it... because the Latin wasn't correct, grammar-wise, and I thought it wouldn't be wise for you to hear at such an impressionable age... I also thought that the lyrics, translated correctly or not, held no bearing on you, on your life, and saw no reason for her to turn it into a bloody lullaby. Whenever I asked her to stop, though, she refused." The darkness chuckled softly, lost in a memory, a memory of a sadder time and place, when the warmth and light of gold was everything. "She said it was just a pretty song. She wanted to know why I couldn't see that... why I had to turn everything into a lesson for you." The small happiness of times long gone by faded from the figure, replaced again by sorrow. "Artemis… I'm sorry for how we.. how _I_… raised you. I didn't realize that there were more important things than wealth, than gold- and I imparted my backwards values on to you. From what Butler says, that's how you and Holly met in the first place, and she's the only reason I'm alive today… that _you're_ alive today… but I'm still sorry."

Black and grey added to the swarm, a more melancholy tone taking hold. "I wish I could go back and do it all differently. I'm so glad and… _so_ proud that you turned out so well, but I can't help but think you would have been happier, sooner if only I had raised you the way I raised the twins." The coolness touched his skin again, and he shook from the frigid white that flashed in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," the voice repeated, a low monotone against the background. "When you… d-died… Angeline used to get so angry with me. She always said that I was the reason you hadn't ever had a childhood before you died. And she was right. I know it's too late to change things… but you've, by some miracle, been given a second chance. I know that you're already grown up and you've outgrown needing to be raised years ago… but I can't help but wonder what you would be like if I had that second chance, too."

And Artemis tried to speak, to tell him that he would have it no other way, that he would never give up Holly, not for anything, and that being raised differently meant they never would have met. He tried to say there is no reason to apologize; that many years had passed and that he held no grudge- but his voice failed him, and all that he managed was a soft groan. The gentle coolness touched him again and he fell into another restless lull, the mesmerizing colors swirling in a pattern that kept him calm as his fever raged on, a burning fire that held back rational thought and logic. He floated on the high of a feverish heat and the black figures faded, too- no longer his father, but a faceless shadow of a man.

* * *

Fortunately for Artemis, he passed through the worst of his illness throughout the night, and by the morning, he had grown much better. After almost thirty six hours of floating in and out of the conscious world, Artemis was finally sitting upright in bed, his head resting on his hand, watching tiredly as Holly tried again to get in contact with Foaly, whom she had had no further contact with since the night before.

"I don't know what's going on," she muttered crossly. "Foaly said he'd be here by now, and he's not answering his ring."

"Holly, please. I'm fine. It was just a thirty six hour illness." Artemis said as he slowly stood, making to put on on his suit jacket.

Holly shot him a look. "Technically, you're still on bed rest."

"Yes, well, _technically_, you shouldn't be here at all. You should have performed the Ritual and headed right back underground."

She just rolled her eyes in response. "_Anyway_, Artemis, I'm not just calling him for you. I'm worried. He said he'd be here by now and we haven't heard anything from him since… I think something must have happened."

Artemis shrugged listlessly, falling back to lie on his back and staring tiredly up into empty space. "Or Commander Kelp has him elbow-deep in paperwork and he decided- rightfully so- that he doesn't need to rush up here for nothing but a short illness on my part and should, instead, stay underground. From what I've been told, the clone project strained his marriage enough. You'd think he'd want to spend more time with Caballine than with me, now."

Holly chuckled. "The way the gossip magazines are still obsessing over the two of us, if you said that to a reporter, the next days' news feed would be dominated by conspiracy theories about a romance between you and Foaly."

"You're not serious."

"Oh, but am I. Trouble's furious about it. He thinks that it's bad press for the LEP… can't say I disagree. The way they talk, you and I have spent the majority of the past eight years in bed." Holly shuddered and grimaced. "Frond. Maybe they don't realize, but if you could save the world by _kissing_, then I wouldn't be the elf for the job."

"Nor I, the human."

Holly grinned again, but her response was interrupted by an incoming call on her ring. She glanced at it, then frowned and looked worriedly at Artemis. "It's Trouble. He _never_ calls me on my ring… he'll only use it in a personal emergency."

Artemis's smile faded and he nodded darkly, sitting up straighter. "Answer it." He watched as Holly held the ring up to her ear as if it were an imaginary phone and answered the call. She listened for a few moments, nodding seriously without any sign of emotion, then her mismatched eyes widened in shock. She gasped and listened in abject horror to whatever Trouble was saying, then nodded shortly and stood, zipping up her jacket and grabbing her helmet off the desk. "Yes, sir. On my way right now." She gave another quick nod before lowering her hand and turning to look at Artemis, her eyes dark and worried.

"We have a big problem."


	24. Chapter 24

Thank you all for reviewing! To make up for the last update being slightly late, this one was posted slightly earlier than usual. Hope you enjoy!

Trouble didn't look very pleased when Foaly walked into the LEP van set up outside the bank within which there was a hostage situation. In fact, he looked positively livid. He turned to the elf who had led him here and actually shouted, "_What_ did we tell you to do?!"

The elf trembled beneath Trouble's fury and gave a timid answer while Foaly watched on, confused. "To find the most qualified technician who wasn't related to the victim, sir."

"So _why_ did you pick _him?!_" Trouble spat acidly. "Did you _want_ to be fired, or were you just dropped on your head one time too many?!"

"Excuse me?" Foaly interrupted. "What is that supposed to mean? What, am I not the 'most qualified' technician anymore? I could've sworn I was head of the department…"

Instead of a retort, Trouble cast him a blank look- it would have almost seemed sympathetic, had Foaly not known better- before he glared back at the unfortunate elf. "Get out of here, now. Get out of the perimeter if you value your job and don't show your face around work for the next week."

Clearly thankful for being spared even more verbal abuse, the elf scampered away, leaving Foaly and Trouble almost entirely alone in the makeshift base. Every other officer either made themselves scarce or very purposefully avoided eye contact with Foaly, leading him to believe that something was very, very wrong. "Trouble, what in Frond's name is going on? All that elf told me is that a relative of somebody high up in LEP was being held hostage at this bank and that I was needed ASAP. …what happened?"

Instead of explaining, Trouble shook his head slowly, an unreadable look in his eyes. "Foaly… it'd be best for you to leave. You should leave, go home, stay there, and wait for us to call."

Foaly was truly worried now. Trouble was not known for his generosity; for him to even be suggesting that he take the day off was a sign that something was very, _very_ wrong. "Commander, what are you talking about? What's going on?!"

"Foaly, I'm telling you as a friend. You don't want to know. Go home. Get some rest."

"Trouble, _what happened?!_"

Trouble shook his head and pointed to the door, but it was clear his heart wasn't in it. "You shouldn't be involved in this… I'll order you to leave if I have to."

"I'm technically not employed by LEP; You're not my commander. You can't _order_ me to go home. Now tell me what in Frond's name is going on _right now_."

Trouble sighed, something akin to sympathy in his eyes. He hesitated, then shook his head and said softly, "It… is your right to know. But, before I turn that monitor on, I promise that we're doing everything we can to get her out of there."

Now positively alarmed, Foaly grabbed the control from Trouble's hand himself and switched on the monitor mounted on the wall.

It was a video feed of the hostage situation currently going on inside the bank. There was a collection of fifteen or so fairies huddled together on the floor, a pixie standing above them. Wrapped around his left wrist was a wire that led to a small device in his hand that he recognized as an explosive patented by Koboi that was tied to the heart rate of whoever held it; if it fell above or below a certain rate, it was set to go off. In his right hand was a weapon that Foaly recognized as a softnose laser that was pointed at a female centaur, who stood with her back to the camera. She had long blonde hair, but there was nothing else extraordinarily distinctive about her.

Foaly frowned, narrowing his eyes and examining the screen closer. There was a silver charm bracelet on her right wrist.

_No… no, it can't be..._

_"A relative of somebody in the LEP…"_

_Not her, though. Anybody but her. The chances of it being her…_

And then, she spoke, her voice ringing out and sounding like an angel's voice in a demon's world, because she couldn't be in there, she just _couldn't __be_- "Let the others go. Whatever your quarrel with LEP is, they have no place in it. Let them go."

The elf glared at her and began to move so the centaur was in between him and the other hostages. "I have my orders," he said coolly. "I shall release no hostages."

The centaur turned so she was once again facing him, her eyes flashing dangerously, and Foaly could deny it no longer.

"Caballine," he whispered, grasping the desk in front of him so hard it hurt his hand. The pain did not even register as he stared up at the screen in horror, actually numb to everything but the woman in the screen above him. "Caballine. No. Caballine."

Trouble dimly spoke, his words falling on almost deaf ears. "We're doing everything we can to get her out of there. She's going to be fine."

But he couldn't hear the commander; he can't process anything but the fact that that's _his wife_ in there and that gun pointed at her will kill and all it will take is one tiny twitch of his finger and she'll be gone, dead, killed-

"Get her out of there!" Foaly could barely breathe but he still managed to turn to meet Trouble's gaze as he gasped, "What- how did she- _how did this happen?!_"

"It, so far, seems just like a regular bank robbery- Caballine was just in the wrong place at the wrong time-"

"No!" he yelled, slamming a shaking hand down on the desk and shaking his head violently. "No, that's impossible! You can't get into a bank with a gun! I designed the system myself; it's not possible-"

"We checked; the bank's security system collapsed in the Crash and we hadn't got around to fixing it yet."

Foaly shook his head again, turning back around to stare up at the monitor. "Oh, gods. Oh, gods. Oh, gods. She can't- she can't-"

"Foaly, we're going to get her out of there. She'll be fine. But _you_ have to get out of here, too. You're _just _the civilian here, not the technical consultant. You're not going to be involved in this operation."

Foaly actually had to stop himself from hitting the commander. "This _operation?_" he gasped. "This is not just your every-day _operation_, Commander! Her _life_-" Foaly cut off sharply with a quick intake of breath, shuddering from the roiling emotions, then finally continued with a shaky voice that, nevertheless, had a steely tone hidden underneath. "I'm not leaving. I'm not going to let you do this without me. She's… she's my _wife_, Commander!" he gasped, still short of breath. "You're not throwing me out. This is… This is my _wife!_ I'm not leaving, Commmander."

"You can't stay here, Foaly. We've got this covered. We don't need you here-"

"If you _have this covered_, then why is she still in there with that _maniac?!_"

"These kinds of operations take time, and you know that-"

"I'm not leaving!" Foaly was yelling by this point; he was somewhere between absolute fury and terror and could hardly think straight. "Commander, if you think I'm leaving when Caballine is in trapped in there-"

"It's not protocol and you know it!"

"_Protocol?!_ I don't give a _damn_ about _protocol_, Commander! That's my wife in there! If you think I'm leaving, then you're out of your mind!"

Trouble hesitated for a moment longer, glancing up at the screen. Finally, he sighed and nodded tersely. "Fine. You stay here and help. But you're not going near that building, Foaly- that's my final offer, take it or leave it."

Foaly's response was to turn away from him and push the elf currently manning the station aside, far too worried for niceties. He put the headset Trouble handed to him on as he took command of the situation, taking less than a second for the most important operation of his life before he said, "Fill me in. What have you done so far?"

"His name is Jonathan Court. He's a well-off defense attorney without even as much as a parking ticket, so, no clue why he's robbing a bank. Made contact, of course, with a hostage negotiator. No good; he says he wants twenty bars of gold. Don't even try to convince me to just give him what he wants; you and I both know Fowl cleaned us out eight years ago and we don't even have that much gold in the hostage fund- not the mention that amount is outrageous. We would be bankrupt."

Foaly grimaced. "Any other options? And why the bomb- wouldn't it have been destroyed in the Crash?"

"Of course there are other options. The current forerunner is a pulse shot to knock him out; we can't use a sedative because he's been using adrenaline patches to counteract anything like that that we might try and because we don't want to cause his heart rate to fluctuate too much, so we don't set off the explosive."

Foaly sent a glare over his shoulder before turning back to focus on the screen. "That still doesn't explain what he's doing with something Koboi patented seven years ago. It shouldn't exist."

Trouble gave a terse sigh before answering, though his voice wasn't convincing in the least. "We think that someone redesigned it off of old computer specs."

Foaly's hand paused and he turned to glare steadily over his shoulder again. "Do I even have to explain the numerous problems with your so-called _theory?_"

With another glare, Trouble shook his head. "No, actually, I'm aware it doesn't quite pan out. But we're more concerned in getting those hostages out than who manufactured the gun- and I'm sure you share our sentiment."

This time, Foaly didn't reply.

They were only left to silence for a few moments, however. The moment the clock hit five pm, the elf in the bank began to move, almost as if he had been waiting for this exact time. He turned to stare up at the camera and announced abruptly, "Foaly, I speak directly to you." His voice was that of a low monotone, with absolutely no change in pitch or tiny inflection of emotion whatsoever. His eyes appeared slightly dazed and his expression remained blank as a robot's as he continued. "As I'm sure you and the commander have now guessed, this is not any random bank robbery. Your wife is not here through coincidence, either. She is here because of you, Foaly. You angered a certain mistress who is not to be trifled with. And your dear Caballine is going to pay the price for it. If you wish for her to be spared, you must trade places with her. And I will not attempt to disguise the fact that one of you will die today. It's just your choice which- you, or Caballine."

In the next moment, Trouble was holding Foaly back by the hem of his shirt, barely managing to stop him from galloping straight to death.

* * *

"I'll drive you; it's faster than you flying on those ancient wings you came up here on."

Holly nodded shortly, following Artemis out of Fowl Manor. Under normal circumstances, she would have surely questioned him on whether he could actually drive a human car better than she could and called him out on the fact that he did not actually _have_ a license- but these were not normal circumstances.

Juliet turned around the corner and almost ran into them; Artemis grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her after them without stopping in what was probably one of the few moments in his life when he displayed any semblance of physical skill. "Juliet, where is your brother?"

Juliet pulled her hand back and followed after him. "I don't know; I think he's in Dublin. Why?"

"When he gets back, you need to tell him that Holly and I are underground. Foaly's wife is in trouble. I'll have my phone if he needs to get in contact with me."

Juliet frowned at him, doubtful. "Artemis, if you think my brother is going to let you go down there alone-"

"Juliet, this is an emergency. I don't have time to wait for him.""

"Well, then I'm going with you."

Artemis gave a terse sigh and shook his head. "It really isn't necessary-"

"My brother will kill me if I let you go alone, so I think it is. Besides, I'm a still a Butler. I can do the job just as well as he can."

Artemis stopped short of pointing out that she had never actually graduated from the academy and cast a look back at Holly. She shrugged, as if to say it didn't matter if Juliet was with them or not, so he nodded. "All right, I'll allow it. I'll call Butler from the car and tell him why the house is empty when he returns from Dublin."

Juliet nodded, then sped up so she was walking ahead of them. "Okay. Hurry up, you two. If this really is an emergency, you don't want Artemis driving."

Artemis muttered incoherently under his breath as Juliet led them outside and headed straight for the town car. "Well, come on!" she called as the engine roared to life. "Don't be scared; I'm licensed! Which is more than I can say for Artemis…"

Artemis exchanged a glance with Holly before following Juliet into the car. "On my birth certificate, I'm twenty; perfectly legal for me to have a license. And if I can fly a plane, I don't think I'll have too much trouble with a car."

"Artemis Fowl, able to drive? Heaven help us. You almost crashed a plane once."

Artemis groaned heavily and threw his head back against the seat. "What is the bloody statue of limitations on that one, Juliet? I was _four!_ And there's no need to drive us to Tara like we're in a car chase, because we're… not." Artemis trailed off as Juliet roared off down the driveway so fast it threw Artemis and Holly to the floor.

"Wear your seat belts!" she called back without taking her eyes off the road. "There's a reason for them, you know."

"Yes, and that is because maniac drivers like you exist!" Holly exclaimed, pulling herself off the floor and rubbing her sore shoulder.

Artemis pulled himself up as well and shook his head. "I'm sure she'll be a great help underground. But what do we know about the situation? Is Caballine all right?"

Holly shook her head tersely, allowing a tense concentration to overtake her features. "I don't know. Trouble told me that Caballine was being held hostage in what appeared to be a simple bank robbery and that I needed to get down there as fast as possible. Which is odd, because I don't work for Retrieval…"

"He wants you to negotiate. You did it before and, considering this is Foaly's wife, I'm guessing he wants the best."

Holly grimaced. "Yes, because the last time I had to negotiate with criminals ended so well. Half the Lower Elements destroyed, the surface and satellites on fire, and you…" Holly trailed off and shook her head angrily, and Artemis tried to smile reassuringly.

"Holly, everything turned out for the best. I'm alive, Opal's gone. They had been mesmerized, anyway; nothing you could say or do would talk them out of it."

She shook her head again. "That aside, Artemis… Foaly will never forgive me if I get Caballine hurt."

"You won't be the one getting Caballine hurt. Whoever's in that bank will be responsible, not you."

"You sound like my professor in hostage negotiation- setting us up for failure. 'Try everything I've taught you, but, in the end, if you fail it's not your fault.'"

Artemis sighed. "I wasn't trying to set you up for failure… it's just…"

Artemis never got to finish his sentence. In that moment, the very ground seemed to shake, and the car rocked back and forth. Artemis grabbed the sides of the car and yelled, "Juliet! What's going on u-"

He was cut off by an earsplitting explosion. The car was actually blasted upwards as the ground beneath them violently exploded, its three occupants screaming as it flipped over once in mid air before it landed back on the road, Juliet fighting to get control of the vehicle. It skidded for a few feet before flipping onto its side and ramming straight into a tree. Artemis and Holly tumbled to the floor in a mess of limbs, landing on top of one another. Glass shards fell in a shattering rainbow on and around them, piercing into their skin and drawing blood.

Artemis gave a low groan as his world finally stopped spinning and the cacophony mof screeching tires and crashing metal silenced, struggling to sit up and failing. His left shoulder felt like the bone had been obliterated and his head like it had been hit with a sledgehammer. "Holly!" he called weakly. "Holly! Juliet!" He felt Holly's limp hand fall on his back and shifted with difficultly to look at her. She was unconscious and appeared to be even worse shape than him; there was a dark gash on her forehead and the bone in her arm had broken the skin. Her multiple injuries were quickly becoming obscured in a haze of sparks and Artemis shifted, alarmed, as he felt some of the magic crawl onto his skin as well. She needed that magic; she could be dying.

With a low, pained moan, Artemis inched himself away from her, grasping out with his good hand for anything he could touch to pull him away. He gritted his teeth when he felt his ribs flare up and couldn't help but begin a mental diagnosis, and it didn't look good; broken ribs, by the feel of his arm, a broken collarbone, with the white spots overtaking his vision, concussion-

_Stop thinking! Stop thinking and just move!_ Gritting his teeth, Artemis reached out blindly until his hand wrapped around what remained of the window. He winced, but when he could think of no other way, he grasped the jagged, sharp edge and painstakingly pulled himself away. He felt her hand slipping off his back, and the moment its touch vanished, he relaxed his arm and let it fall down, blood streaming down his hand from the deep cut. He gave a pained gasp and, without anything left to keep him awake, rapidly felt himself falling into unconsciousness.

_No… someone ambushed us. They're coming if they're not here already. I have to stay awake…_

The last thing Artemis felt before his eyes closed was a tiny hand grabbing him by the wrist.


	25. Chapter 25

Thank you all for reviewing!

"Heal the girl, for gods' sakes. We're trying to attract the big Mud Man, not vultures."

"She ordered differently…"

"We were given no guidelines on whether the girl lives or dies. If she were important, that would have been otherwise. I say heal her, at least to the point where she is not on death's door. Once we leave with the two humans, her life will put in the gods' hands, not ours. If she dies, it will not be on us."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

"That's General, actually."

…

* * *

Butler was very worried.

When he had returned from Dublin to find Fowl Manor empty of both Artemis and his sister, he had been uncertain. When neither Artemis nor Juliet had answered their phones, it had been unsettling. When Angeline and Artemis I had been surprised to find out Artemis was missing, he had been on the verge of going out to look for them.

The message he received after trying to track Artemis's phone was the final straw.

_Coordinates not found. Invalid signal requested. The phone you are trying to find is either out of service or has been disconnected. If you think you have reached this message in error, please check the signal you searched and try again._

Artemis's phone was not out of service or disconnected. That was an impossibility. Artemis would never disconnect his phone, and, unlike most people's, it couldn't be broken by dropping it in water. His phone would keep working no matter what horrors one put it through, short of being melted in a furnace- and Artemis himself wouldn't disconnect it- not unless for a very good reason.

As for it being out of service, that, too, was an impossibility. Artemis had built his phone to access all networks, human or fairy. Butler doubted that he would drop calls even on the moon.

That only left one possibility- that something very, very bad had happened.

Luckily, Juliet's phone was still perfectly operational and told him that she- or, at least, her cell phone- was two miles down the road to Tara. Her location wasn't changing, but the town car was missing, so he really had no idea what they were doing. But, when Artemis was involved, Butler had long since learned to assume the worst. The likelihood that Artemis and Juliet had simply taken a stroll down the road and the equipment tracking his phone was malfunctioning was slim to none.

And so, without telling Artemis's parents, Butler hurried to run down the road, not wanting to attract their attention by taking one of the other cars. It was less than two miles away; it would take less than ten minutes for him to reach it on foot.

As it was, it took less than three minutes for him to see the smoking wreckage of the town car by a tree. The car had certainly been totaled and it looked like it was on fire. He began to run even faster, yelling, "_Artemis! Juliet!_"

There was no reply and he called out for them again. He couldn't tear his eyes from the wreckage, from the flames that were steadily licking around the car and incinerating anyone inside it…_ Artemis, falling to the ground, dead before they reached him, dead and gone forever, his heart no longer beating-_

"_Artemis!_" he yelled once more. "_Artemis!_" Butler ran even faster, stressing his heart far more than he had been warned was safe anymore as he fought back rising panic. The moment he reached the car, he was trying to see into the twisted depths of crushed metal, trying to see if Artemis or Juliet was inside. There was absolutely no sign of his young charge, but… was that blonde hair?

"Juliet!" Butler hurried around the car, jumping back as the flames roared up once again. "Juliet, can you hear me?!"

And, trained as he was, no matter how horrible the situation, no Butler could miss the telltale sting of a needle prick on the side of his neck. Butler immediately whirled around to see a small team of what could only be fairies surrounding him, one of the four aiming a small gun at his neck. When they saw that he was still awake and perfectly functional, they appeared to panic; one turn on his heel to run while the others immediately began shielding- and Butler would have grabbed those three before they vanished had his vision not started to blur.

Realizing he had been drugged and determined not to go down without a fight, Butler dived for the fairy that was running away and grabbed him by the ankle, yanking him to the ground with him. Butler pounded him in the chest with his fist hard enough to shatter a few ribs and tired to hit him again, but his hand blurred and made two fists instead of one and he ended up hitting the ground.

He felt two more darts pierce him, one on the shoulder and one in his chest. Butler gave a low groan and his vision flashed black and white. He felt the small limb be yanked out of his grip before darkness overtook him, and he sank into unconsciousness.

* * *

Foaly really didn't care when Trouble, once again, voiced his worry about Holly. "She should be here by now. Even if she was on the surface with Fowl, she should've been here at least an hour ago."

"I don't care, Commander- I just _don't care!_ Can't you focus?!"

Trouble shook his head and continued looking down at the bank schematics laid out before him. Without even sparing him a glance, he said, "You're not going in there, Foaly."

"Yes, I am. I don't care what you say; you can't stop me."

"Yes, I can," he said confidently, still without even looking up from his paper. "I can sedate you. I can order the Retrieval team to set up a magnetic barrier around the bank so you can't reach it. I can order you to stand down. I can-"

"Gods _damn_ it, Trouble, this is my _wife!_" Foaly pointed at the screen with a shaking hand, with tremors that hadn't left him since he had heard Johnathan Court's message. "You can't stop me from saving her!"

Trouble finally turned around to look at him. If there was sympathy in his eyes, it was greatly overshadowed by anger. "Foaly, I know you don't want to hear this. But you are very important to the People. If you were just any fairy we pulled off the street, then I wouldn't be absolutely refusing to let you go in there- but you're not. As much as I belittle your importance on the job, we both know that you are invaluable to the LEP."

Foaly shook with indescribable anger, his heart in his throat, too short of breath to speak. He trembled for several moments before gasping, his voice hoarse and shocked, "You would kill her because you're _selfish?!_ You can always find a new inventor- but I can't find a new _her_, Commander! I can't-"

"Foaly, you're not going in there."

Foaly didn't even take a moment to think about it. He had decided what he was going to do long before he opened his mouth. "If you keep me from going in there and she dies, then consider this my two weeks' notice. I'm not bluffing. I quit, _Commander_. Either you let me save her, or I quit."

Trouble's eyes narrowed, and he took a few moments to consider him critically before he just shook his head again. "_After_ we've saved her, I'll give you some time to reconsider. In the meantime, I'm not accepting your resignation."

"I'm not asking you to _accept _anything and I'm not asking for _time to reconsider!_"

"Foaly, I am ordering you to remain here. You are not to get within ten meters of that bank, do I make myself clear?"

For the first time in his life, Foaly actually hit someone. He swung a punch at Trouble, hitting him squarely in the jaw and forcing the commander to stumble back against the table and gasp in shock. One elf made a half-hearted attempt to restrain an unresisting Foaly while another tentatively tried to help Trouble; the rest were too shocked to intercede.

Trouble looked up at him, almost stunned, and remained still for a moment before cautiously putting a hand on his bleeding lip. He narrowed his eyes as he stood, a tiny spark making the cut vanish as he said, "I'm going to pretend that didn't just happen. You'd best do the same."

Foaly made to hit him again but Trouble easily countered and pushed him back. "Hit me all you like. You're not going in there."

"You can't stop me." Foaly yanked the ID badge hanging around his neck off and threw it on the floor at Trouble's feet. He shook his head in disgust and was about to turn and push the officer standing in his way aside when he saw Trouble nod sadly and reluctantly.

"Sorry, Foaly, but I _can_ stop you. Go ahead, Lieutenant."

By the time Foaly realized what was happening, it was too late for him to stop the elf from hitting him in the neck with a sedative. He reached for the small dart buried in his flesh and yanked it out, but the damage had already been done. He tried to stagger to the door, determined he could still make it before he passed out, but his vision blurred and he felt so light-headed he could have been floating.

"You," he gasped, his voice slurred as he turned around to glare accusingly at Trouble, his world swaying back and forth in a nauseating view. "You… can't do… this."

The commander's face deformed, colors mixing and blending into each other as he nodded seriously, true regret in his eyes. "I can and I have. We'll save her, Foaly."

"Let… me…" Foaly never finished his sentence. The drug overpowered him and he sputtered for one more moment before his world went black.

* * *

When Butler regained consciousness, his first realization was that it was cold.

He kept his eyes closed and remained perfectly still, processing what he could while feigning sleep. It was absolutely silent, wherever he was, except for the soft whir of what sounded like a generator. The floor felt like old, cracked concrete. He felt the gentle wind from the air conditioner and kept his expression carefully blank as he thought back to how he had gotten here.

Artemis and Juliet had been injured, possibly killed. He had been ambushed by a team of fairies- elite fairies, by the way things were looking. Nothing but the best would have been able to incapacitate two Butlers and Artemis Fowl.

Having done as much blind reconnaissance as he could, Butler gingerly cracked open eye open, searching the room for any sign of his sister or his charge. All he could see, however, was a bland grey wall and floor, empty of furniture or any other decorations that could help clue him in as to where he was.

_In an unfamiliar situation, get all the information you can without altering the enemy that you are conscious. When you must, however, move, take your enemy by surprise. This will be your last chance with the element of surprise. Do not waste it._

One of Madame Ko's first lessons to him- and he'd be dammed if he didn't use it now.

Butler jumped to his feet, his hands curling into fists even as the blood rushed to his head and he grew more than slightly dizzy. He turned around in a tight circle, prepared to fight- but the room was entirely deserted. He blinked to clear his vision, but all the disappearance of the haze revealed was a wide screen TV mounted on the wall- currently off- and a heavy wooden door that was most likely locked.

He blinked again, and that was when he noticed a slight blur hovering around the edges of the room. It looked almost like the air above the ground on a very hot day; thickly blurring and impossible to pinpoint. Butler took a hesitant step closer to the odd barrier and slowly reached out to touch it; his hand met a thick, immovable wall, the curved orb not moving no matter how hard he pushed against it.

_Fairy, _he thought. _This is fairy in design, no doubt._

Just then, there was a soft crackle from behind him, and Butler whirled around to see the static on the screen disappear to reveal an elf with green eyes and crisp black hair. His gaze was dull and lifeless, and he began speaking the moment the screen turned on, his voice a low, robotic monotone that was more unsettling than intimidating.

"You angered a certain mistress who should is not to be trifled with, and your dear Artemis is going to pay the price for it."

Even thrown off by the anticlimactic voice, the message was anything but comforting. "What?!" he gasped. "No- Artemis! Artemis, Juliet?! Can you hear me?! _Artemis!_" he yelled, turning to search around the room again in a panic.

"Don't waste your breath," the elf laughed, his voice abruptly shifting to sound more like a human's and less like a machine's. "We can't hear you; you can only hear us. Even so, we're miles away. Even if you managed to escape the magnetic field, we're not even in the same building as you. There's nothing you can do but watch." And, with those words, the elf adjusted the camera slightly, zooming out to reveal more of his location. It was a room similar to this- except Artemis was standing behind the elf.

Butler examined him as best he could, searching for any sign of injury. His suit was torn and caked with blood, and there was a particularly nasty gash on his forehead, but otherwise, he seemed relatively unharmed. His clothes were covered in a worrying amount of blood, but Butler could only assume that it either wasn't Artemis's blood or that his captors had healed him.

That was when he noticed the odd angle at which Artemis held his left arm. He was holding it close to his chest and grasping his side tightly; it looked almost like Artemis was trying to assume the position of his arm being in the sling. And, by the way he was putting most of his weight onto his left side, Butler could only assume there were internal injuries as well.

_Probably a few broken ribs, a broken arm…. this isn't good._

Artemis didn't appear to be worried or frightened, but Butler knew just how well Artemis could mask his emotions and was almost certain it was just an act. Artemis gazed directly at the camera and commanded, "Don't watch, Butler," turning stoically to face the elf as he did so. "_General Gage_ told me what he's going to do. Don't watch. It's what they want."

Butler, aghast, stared in horror as his charge raised a pale fist, his other arm still clutching his side, and prepared to _fight_ the diminutive threat. _"Artemis!_" he yelled, pounding his fist against the barrier. "_Artemis!_"

The little fairy suddenly launched into action, moving so quickly even Butler's trained eyes could barely track him. With a flurry of fists, Artemis was collapsed on his knees, his face ashen, his eyes stricken with pain. He cried out when the tiny foot collided with his stomach and Butler grasped at thin air, straining to run to his aid. "No!" he shouted when Artemis was hit again. "No! Stop!"

The elf wasn't even shielding and he took slow, exaggerated steps around Artemis. "You going to fight back, Mud Boy?" he taunted, kicking at him again. "Hit me, Mud Boy, hit me!"

Artemis was pulled upright, and the look on his face told Butler he was holding back a scream of pain. The elf taunted him again, still holding his wrist, and Artemis finally spoke. "I have a broken collarbone, _my dear adversary_. I _can't_ hit you."

The elf blinked. The comment was so out of place that he simply stood there for a moment, shocked, then just slugged him again. Artemis stumbled, barely able to remain on his feet before being kicked solidly in the chest. He fell back and Butler found himself swearing when the elf reached out and grabbed the boy by the wrist. That had been one of the _first_ moves he had taught Artemis how to avoid!

His angry words died in his mouth when the elf jerked the arm behind Artemis's back and forced it up. Artemis collapsed to his knees and let out a blood-curdling, agonized scream as his arm was pulled right out of the socket and his broken collarbone was pushed even further out of alignment. When he was finally released, Artemis fell onto his stomach, his skin as pale as his shirt.

"Now your arm's broken, too, Mud Boy. How does it feel?"

Artemis remained silent- Butler wasn't even sure if he retained the strength _to_ speak- but glared defiantly up at the elf, still panting. When the elf came at him again, Artemis barely managed to yell, "Butler, don't watch!" before he was hit again.

The brutal assault continued, only growing more and more horrifying, and Butler couldn't tear his eyes away from Artemis's suffering. His charge grew steadily weaker and weaker until he suddenly started coughing, his face white as a sheet, his eyes wide with terror. With each violent breath came flecks of blood and right as the elf started for him again, another voice rang out.

"Stop. He is near death," the voice said in Gnomish. The words had a powerful affect on the fairy- and on Artemis. Still spasming on the floor, the boy's eyes widened, in relief or fear, Butler couldn't tell, and he coughed up blood again as the elf turned away to glare down at Artemis.

"Are you sure? I think he could take a few more rounds-"

"I said _stop._"

Butler leaned forward in anxiety as a pixie walked on screen and headed straight for Artemis. The elf hesitated, then muttered something in the pixie's ear. The pixie shrugged noncommittally and frowned in concentration, releasing a small spark of magic into the trembling boy's chest as the elf turned back to face Butler.

"Yes, the beating was entirely for your benefit. Our mistress has further plans for the Mud Boy, however, so we must keep him alive… for now. But he won't see the light of day again. However, our mistress has no further plans for you." The elf smiled cruelly, if with a hint of nervousness, and nodded. "You are fifty kilometers away from civilization, and the battery powering the magnetic field is good enough to last for another two weeks. No one is looking for you. Your fairy friends are otherwise… preoccupied, and Artemis won't be able to help you ever again after tomorrow night." Another devilish grin and a wink before the elf reached up to turn off the monitor.

"Take a last look. Your responsibility to protect… seems like you didn't do too good a job."

The elf was right. Artemis was bucking and gasping on the floor, clearly entirely unaware of his surroundings despite the fact that his eyes were open, and he was still coughing violently, a trail of blood running front the corner of his mouth.

That was his fault.

"_Artemis!_" Butler yelled just as the screen cut to static again, and, unable to help himself, Butler ran forward to try and reach it. He ran into the barrier and was repelled by the strong magnet. Butler fell back to the floor even as he let out a raw, anguished yell.

It took a few slow, agonizing moments for the true horror of the situation to catch up with him. He was trapped, without any possible way out, miles away from his charge. All he knew about what was happening to his charge was the identity of his attacker, General Gage- and, while he was sure Artemis had given it to him for a reason, Butler could do nothing with it. He could do nothing at all to save him.

Artemis was going to die. Juliet was most likely already dead.

As much as it pained him to admit it, Butler knew that he was lucky that the fairies had left him to die- because he had nothing left.

And so, for one of the few times in his life, Butler buried his head in his hands and sobbed.


	26. Chapter 26

Thank you all for reviewing! Finally actually planned out (and wrote!) the rest of the story. It will be twenty nine chapters long, and no, the rest will not be full of cliffhangers and explosions and it will not end on a cliffhanger. There will be no further explosions or cruel cliffhangers where I leave you off with Oh my god, is Artemis alive?! after this chapter. The action is going to wind down soon and I'm going to give these characters some peace and resolution; I think they've suffered enough, don't you?

Holly opened her eyes to see the sim-sky of Haven up above her. She blinked, confused. Last she remembered, she had been on the surface. How had she gotten underground?

_Her world spinning- everyone screaming all at once- crash of metal and glass spilling over her head-_

The car crash. Someone had ambushed them and forced them to crash… and, somehow, she had ended up underground.

"You're awake, Captain Short. How thrilling."

Holly jumped at the sudden voice in her ear and sat bolt upright, raising a hand to feel her helmet. It wasn't LEP-issue; this was smoother and made of a different substance. "Who is this?!" she gasped, jumping to her feet and turning around in a circle, examining her surroundings. They were vaguely familiar, but she didn't exactly have time to stop and smell the roses.

"I am a servant. You have angered my mistress. You angered a certain mistress who is not to be trifled with, and your dear Foaly is going to pay the price for it."

"…What?!" Holly spun around again, searching for any sign of whoever the person in her ear was. "What are you talking abo… Artemis! Juliet! Are they okay?!"

The voice chuckled coldly. "If Juliet is the human girl, we left her life to the hands of the gods."

Holly frowned, momentarily confused. The phrase was one not heard often; in fact, it was ridiculously out dated, harking back to many thousands of years ago when the fairy kind had still been devoutly religious. But that had been so long ago that you only heard it nowadays within the walls of a history classroom.

That was when the meaning of what he'd say actually struck her. "Gods… you didn't leave her to die?!"

The elf kept speaking as if he hadn't even heard her. "And your human friend Artemis in some considerable pain right now, but he'll live. Well, he won't die from his injuries, at least." He laughed lightly. "But he also won't live past sunrise tomorrow."

"No… no! What did you do to him?!"

"Nothing you won't see for yourself soon enough."

"Let him go! And Juliet- she's just a human girl, there's no reason for you to-"

The elf sighed, clearly somewhat aggravated. "Captain Short, are you sure you wish to waste your time with inane questions? Because Foaly's life is on a clock."

Holly froze. At her sharp intake of breath, the elf continued, and with a hint of joviality in his voice. "You see, the coordinates I'm about to send to your helmet are his location. My team and I have rigged the area with explosives- something they won't notice because Foaly is fully busy with his wife and won't pay the slightest attention to screening the surroundings. I've also locked out all other communications, so you can't call him and warn him. Here's another present, just for you."

A moment later, two pieces of information were flashing across her visor. One was a set of coordinates superimposed on a map of Haven, most likely being Foaly's location.

The other was a timer set at thirty minutes- and ticking steadily down to zero.

"Do I have to explain what happens when the clock hits zero, or do you understand already?"

Holly remained frozen, struggling to comprehend the terrible situation for less than three seconds before she spun on her heel and activated her wings. Even as she rose into the air, she snapped, "You won't get away with this. I'm going to get to Foaly in time, and we're going to find wherever you've got Artemis, and then-"

"Do go on, Captain, it's so amusing to hear you speak of the impossible."

Holly's frown deepened and she increased her speed as much as she could, plotting out her projected path using the helmet's unfamiliar system. It only took several seconds for it to give her the likely time it would take-

Thirty two minutes.

"No," she muttered frantically, "estimate again. Estimate again, damn it! Ignore all speed and safety regulations."

"Recalculating… thirty one minutes."

Holly swore, even as the voice in her ear laughed again. "Seems like you should have spent less time asking questions and more time flying. It's a pity _you_ won't be the one to pay the price for it."

"No. No! I'll get to him in time. I- I'll find a way, I-"

"How amusing. So confident… I wonder what will happen when you realize you can't win."

"Shut down communications. Shut down now," Holly muttered furiously, trying to focus despite the fairy's taunts. "Shut down!"

"It's not your system, Captain; you can't shut me out. But I'll be quiet. Wouldn't want to tip the scales in my direction by distracting you. No… this is a _fair_ fight."

And despite how ridiculously incorrect that statement was, Holly didn't reply. She was too focused on getting to Foaly in time.

Holly flew faster than she ever had before, and that was definitely saying something. She called on every lesson, every tactic, every strategy she had been taught in the academy, streamlining her body and taxing her wings to the limit. She took every shortcut in Haven, flipping and swerving around buildings in turns so tight she barely made it without flying off course, out of control. But the clock kept ticking down and she wasn't cutting enough time to make it to Foaly before her timer ran out.

Her wings sputtered and coughed and resisted as she tried to increase her speed even more, and she could tell they wouldn't be of any use to anyone soon. "Come on," she muttered frantically, her eyes locked on the timer. "Hang on, Foaly, I'm coming."

She had twenty three seconds by the time she finally rocketed around the final corner, ripping off her helmet and letting it fall to the ground as she screamed out Foaly's name. She cut off her wing's power, falling lightly to the ground and landing in a run. "_Foaly!_" she yelled again, picking up her pace, feet pounding over the pavement even as the clock ticked down, getting closer and closer to zero. She could see him now, with her commander arguing about something beside him. "_Trouble! Foaly! Get out of_-"

Holly was thrown back as the ground suddenly exploded, landing against the side of a building so hard it knocked the wind out of her. She fell to the ground, her vision flashing black and white. Someone screamed and there was the sound of a crash, and, through the haze of her still flickering vision, she saw the foundations of a building that was still undergoing repairs from the Crash crumble and fall to the side- right on top of where LEP had congregated.

She tried to yell but her chest hurt too much to get the words out as Foaly and the commander were crushed underneath the structure. Even as her magic began to try and heal her injuries from colliding with a stone wall at top speed, Holly was up and struggling to reach them, moving through the dust and coughing violently before trying to call out to them again.

"Captain Short."

Holly spun around, her eyes narrowing when she saw an elf and a pixie descending to the ground slowly behind her. "G-General Gage?" she asked in confusion, then coughed. "Is… is that you?"

"Yes. What happened?"

Holly shook her head, relieved to find an LEP officer in all of this mess, standing up straight even as her ribs protested. "I don't know how this- someone has Artemis and they… they tried to get to Foaly and I-"

"No, no. I know this. I mean what happened- why didn't you get here in time?"

"They lied, I'm sorry, I- it doesn't matter; we have to get them! Foaly and the commander could still alive! Come… what?" Holly took a slow step, her eyes widening in shock as it hit her. "How did you know about that?"

The elf beside Gage smiled and spoke with a wink. "Don't you recognize my voice, Captain? I had hoped it would haunt you after you failed to save him…"

"You- you were the one who set this up, who told me about the bomb and that I had to get here- what are you… you're working together?!" she gasped in horror, looking between the elf and the general. "Oh my gods, you're working together!" Holly took another step back and reached for her Neutrino, only to find an empty holster. "General, how could you?! You know Foaly and the commander- how could you do this?!"

He made no reply, even as the group of three spread out and surrounded her. "Oh, relax," the pixie said, his eyes suddenly glowing blue, his voice heavy with magic. Holly made a vague sound of protest and stumbled back, her limbs suddenly heavy, as he continued. "Remember, Foaly's not the only one who was in danger here. Your human friend, Artemis? Remember him? Don't you want to see how he's doing?"

Holly found herself nodding, suddenly very, very tired. She tried to resist but found it impossible. "Ar… Artemis. Y- yes."

"I can take you to see him. But you need to sleep if you want me to do that."

And with her magic already healing her multiple injuries and putting her in a drowsy haze, how could she resist? "You can do that… make me sleep?"

"Yes. It's easy. Just go to sleep, Holly." The pixie smiled comfortingly at her and nodded. "When you wake up, you'll be with Artemis."

Holly nodded back and felt her eyelids growing heavy. "I under… understand." She slipped to her knees, the sweet realm of dreams so close she could almost taste it. Sleep… and when she woke up, Artemis…

Her world went black and she fell back into an elf's arms…

* * *

Waking up in a hospital bed was a very bad thing, for a Butler.

Especially when your charge is not with you.

Juliet remembered everything that had happened and could only assume fairies had found them. She remembered, somewhere in the haze of pain she'd been floating in, between sweet unconsciousness and agonizing wakefulness, a small fairy worming its way into the wreck and taking away the pain. She couldn't remember very much, after that, but could guess that the fairy had healed her and she had fallen asleep.

That, however, gave no explanation for why she was in a human hospital with her entire body feeling like she had been run over by a truck.

Angeline Fowl was sitting in her room, watching her uncertainly, but there was no sign of her brother or the other two Fowls. "M- Mrs. Fowl," she said, her voice exceptionally hoarse. It hurt to talk and she felt a headache growing at the base of her skull. "Wh... what's going on?"

Angeline's face fell, and she bit her lip, sweeping a long section of her hair over her shoulder with a long, delicate hand. "You don't remember?" she asked softly, seeming extremely disappointed. "Are you sure?"

"No, I remember- but the fairies healed me. Why am I here? And where's Artemis and Holly? They were with me..."

Angeline sighed and closed her eyes, burying her face in her hands. "That's what I was afraid of. God, this can't be happening _again_..."

"What are you talking about?"

Without raising her head, Angeline sighed heavily, surreptitiously brushing a tear from her cheek. "We can't find Artemis. We have no idea where he is... Butler went looking for him this morning and disappeared, too. Butler asked us about Artemis just before he left to go looking for him... we assumed that everything was fine and were on our way to Dublin when we passed the wreck. The police said that something made you crash, but they had no idea what, and the doctors said that you had all the symptoms of recovering from a head injury but there was no sign of any actual injury... my husband and I guessed that fairies were involved."

Juliet shook her head in confusion. "No, no... Artemis was _with_ me. So was Holly. I... we were ambushed. The road, it just... exploded. I guess I was knocked out in the crash, I don't know, but I remember a fairy healing me. Why would they just leave me there; that doesn't make any sense... oh, no."

"What?"

Sitting up straighter, Juliet pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, narrowing her eyes as she contemplated what Angeline had told her and what she remembered herself. "You say you can't find my brother?"

Angeline shook her head. "No. There's no sign of him."

Juliet grimaced. "Then that's why they left me behind... I was the bait. They didn't want me; they wanted Holly, Artemis, and my brother. But they knew they could never get to him on their own, so they used me to..." she trailed off in horror, then abruptly ripped the IV out of her arm and made to stand, despite Angeline's protests. "I have to go. I have to help them."

"Juliet, stop it! You're not going anywhere, the doctor said-"

"I don't give a damn what they said; I'm not about to let whoever these fairies are hurt my friends!"

"Juliet-"

"No." Juliet shook her head furiously looked sharply around the hospital room for something for her to change into, thoroughly ignoring the harsh pain in her chest. "I may not be a blue diamond bodyguard, but I'm still a Butler. I can still help- I still _need_ to help with this."

Angeline shook her head again and tried to keep Juliet calm, to no avail. "The police are involved; they-"

"Be serious. Human police are worthless in most scenarios; when fairies get in the midst as well, they can only be described as incompetent."

"Would your brother really-"

"My brother's missing!" Juliet yelled, exasperated. "How can _you_ be calm about this?! Your son is out there, too!"

Angeline bit her lip and looked away, which Juliet took as confirmation that she, too, was very upset and scared out of her mind for his welfare. "That's what I thought."

Still doubtful, Angeline rested a hand on her shoulder, trying to keep her from leaving. "But you're still injured; you can't be out there looking for them. You should be resting."

"I may not have _graduated_ from the academy, Mrs. Fowl, but I still did go through it. One of the classes was working through injuries. I've gone through fights and won when I went in with more than a couple broken ribs." When Angeline tried to protest, Juliet silenced her with a cold glare and snapped, "You want your son safe? I'm your best bet."

* * *

Juliet may have been one for shock value, but, for once, she didn't care of have time for the surprise on Artemis Senior's face as she hurried into his study, where he had been talking with who Juliet recognized as one of his old government contacts via webcam. Without waiting for him to say a word, Juliet walked over and shut the laptop, saying, "The government isn't going to be much help on this, Mr. Fowl."

"Ms. Butler, what in the _hell_ are you doing here?! You-"

"Please don't call me Ms. Butler; it's _Juliet_," she said firmly. "And I'm here to help you look for your son and my brother. What were you thinking, getting others involved in this? Spreading the word that your son was kidnapped by fairies isn't going to help anything. And doesn't the Irish government still believe him to be dead?"

Artemis Sr glared at her, opening his laptop again and beginning to type. "If you have a better idea, I'm all ears- but I can't do this alone; I need help. And what are you even doing here? Angeline told me that the doctor said you would be in the hospital for at least two days-"

"I checked myself out AMA; this is far more important. And I'll be your help. Taking over my brother's job until we get him back. Now, fill me in. What do you know so far?"

He grimaced and shook his head. "You're stubborn, I'll give you that. And you have proven yourself able, in the past..." Artemis hesitated, casting a doubtful glance in her direction, clearly uncertain.

Juliet sighed. "Mr. Fowl, you want to find Artemis. I want to find my brother. We have a common goal. And what harm can I cause? I'm a Butler. You know what that name alone means about me."

Artemis narrowed his eyes. "You're not a bodyguard. You can't-"

"Perhaps, but I did go through the training. I choose not to be a bodyguard; I didn't fail out of the academy. Mr. Fowl-"

"All right, all right! ...but only because I'm desperate, and I know you are, too."

"Good. Now, I'll ask again- what do you know so far?"

Artemis sighed tersely while Juliet grabbed a rubber band from his desk, tying her hair back. "Not much. I've honestly only been able to confirm what you told me and nothing else. My son is more of a tech whiz than myself, but I do know enough to try and trace his cell phone. No signal. Butler's only gave me coordinates for where the wreck happened... that's all I know how to do myself, though. What else _can_ I do? "

Shaking her head regretfully, Juliet found herself wishing that her brother was here with her. He would know what to do, without a doubt. "Holly was with us... but I don't have any idea how to track her. Or get in touch with any others of Artemis's fairy friends, for that matter."

"You don't need to."

Both Juliet and Artemis Sr spun around to see Myles standing in the doorway, carrying Artemis Jr's laptop under his arm. He walked forward, smirking at their stunned expressions, and set it down on the desk, opening it to reveal the program he had set up. "Don't either of you two keep up to date with the newest security measures? Artemis added some to the town car about a year ago that could be quite helpful now."

"What... what are you talking about?"

Myles shrugged, still concentrated on running his program. "Neither of you noticed, did you? Remember, when he grew so paranoid and began counting his words?"

"_You _noticed that?!"

He shrugged again. "Of course. I was surprised when no one else did. But that's beside the point; my mentally disturbed big brother thought it necessary to add a camera system to the town car, one that transmitted directly back to his laptop. He installed it himself, I believe so that Butler would never find out. While I'm sure it's no longer transmitting _now_, it could have caught more than a few images that will help you find him."

Artemis Sr and Juliet stared in shock as the small child typed away on the computer, flicking through blurry images and discarding them before they had even what he was doing. By the time Artemis Sr was able to speak again, Myles had found the picture he was looking for. "As I suspected. See here?"

He was pointing at a shot that wouldn't be out of place in a sci-fi movie, depicting an unconscious Artemis collapsed in a pool of his own blood with a tiny figure in what appeared to be a high tech, fire proof suit securing his wrist to his belt.

Myles stood back triumphantly while Artemis Sr examined the picture, deeply disturbed by its contents. "Oh my god... Juliet, you're right. That's a..." He glanced uncomfortably down at Myles, but the small boy chuckled and shook his head.

"A fairy, Father? Yes, I know. What did you take me for, a fool? When Artemis had his pseudo-death seven months ago, I did my checking around his lab. At first I discounted what I learned to be lunacy, but then I discovered programs written entirely in Gnomish code, and caught sight of his friend Holly taking off her helmet to reveal a pair of pointed ears. It's only logical for me to conclude that fairies do, in fact, exist."

Juliet and Artemis stared at each other, stunned. Artemis finally stammered, "But- w-why didn't you say any-"

"Because I didn't know who else knew about the existence of fairies in this family. I was sure my older brother was smart enough to not spread the news of fairies throughout the house, after all. But enough of that! Isn't the present situation more than pressing enough for us to focus on it?"

Artemis stared down at his son for one long moment before just shaking his head and returning his attention. Juliet laughed and muttered, "Just imagine how creepy his children will be if his _brother_ is this much like him."

Myles sighed tersely before gesturing to the laptop and saying, "This picture isn't enough. It simply confirms what I'm sure you already guessed about the identity of the people who abducted him. We need something to show us where they took him." He began to scroll through pictures again, going slower this time, then finally stopped and pointed triumphantly. "I knew it. Here. A picture of their shuttle; just what I needed."

"Why?" Juliet narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer; all the picture had managed to capture was about half of a shiny silver pod, and it wasn't even in good quality; flames obscured parts of it and the edges were blurry. "What does this do? Unless the camera follows him for some reason, then I don't see how this helps."

Myles sighed again, taking the computer under his arm and turning to leave. "I'm beginning to sympathize with Artemis now. Explaining all my plans is tiresome. It helps because I can now find them with satellite footage by isolating the shuttle, improving the quality, and running a program to compare it to all footage taken in the past day. It's not a sure thing, but at least it's a plan, which is more than you had, before I made my appearance."

"Look, Myles, we may be rich, but I can't just call up any government in the world and ask to borrow their satellite footage! Not even with a reason as enticing as to check to for signs of fairies."

"I _know_ that. Artemis has access to all government satellites in the world, including secret ones that the Chinese and other governments like to pretend they don't have. So long as he doesn't do anything malignant in their systems, no one ever realizes he's using their satellites for his own personal use- and that's not even mentioning the host of fairy satellites at his disposal. I think we have a good chance of finding at least one picture of the shuttle. Come on; follow me. I'm going down to his lab."

Artemis and Juliet stared down at Myles as he walked off confidently, unaware of the shocked silence he had left in his wake. Finally, Juliet turned to Artemis and said, "Was Arty this arrogant when he was five?"

"Yes... yes, I think so. I don't know where they get it from-"

"It's a genius thing!" Myles called back over his shoulder. "And aren't you coming?"

Artemis and Juliet just sighed and followed after the small genius, shaking their heads together.

* * *

Hope that Myles's plan would quickly bring success dissolved when Artemis and Juliet watched him work for half an hour, work that yielded no results. Artemis had said several times that they should call in professional help, and Juliet's patience was wearing thin and she kept cracking her bruised and cut knuckles and asking when the time for violence came.

Myles consistently replied that this work took time and patience, that calling in a professional would only waste time, not save it, and that the time for violence would come when it did.

Juliet uncomfortably adjusted the strap on her sling for the third time and lazily tapped the table while Artemis shifted impatiently and checked his watch again. He finally opened his mouth to announce that they should just find another way to do this when Myles clapped his hands together triumphantly.

"Aha! I knew it!"

Juliet and Artemis both looked up eagerly and hurried over to him, Artemis sheepishly putting his phone back in his pocket as Myles gestured theatrically at the screen. "I was right. Unwilling courtesy of the U.S. government, we have a picture of this shuttle landing just south of Cork over three hours ago. If you want to find Artemis, that's your best bet."

Artemis frowned uncertainly. "Cork? Why go to all this trouble just to take him a little ways south of here? Juliet, is that city important to the fairies?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea... the only fairy location on the surface I know about is Tara."

"Trust me. Artemis was there three hours ago. I'll keep scanning for more recent pictures of it, but if you want to start your search for him, that's where you need to be."

Artemis glanced uncertainly at Juliet, who nodded. He hesitated a moment longer before giving in, the desperation to find his son overruling everything else. "We're on our way there. Myles, if you find anything else, my cell phone number is-"

"I already know it. Genius, remember?" He grinned up at the two adults, who just chuckled and shook their heads together.

"Got it. Juliet, come on. Let's go find my son."

"And my brother."

* * *

"It's an empty warehouse. Purchased by a rich Booki Palo over eight months ago, which is most likely a false identity, since I can't find anything but a name and a bank account for him. There are no satellites in the area right now and there are no other buildings near by with cameras I could hack, so I can't tell you what's going on in there. It could be a trap, but without being there with you, I can't give you any more information."

Artemis nodded, looking out the window at the warehouse that was his son's last known location. "Thank you, Myles."

"Father, if I may caution you, this is almost certainly a trap. You should take a moment to consider your-"

"I don't have a moment to waste, Myles. Juliet and I are going into that building, and if it's a trap, we'll be ready." Artemis promptly hung up and accepted the gun Juliet handed to him, glancing out the window once more. "Juliet, come on. Let's go."

"You got it." Juliet got gingerly out of the car, holding a hand to her injured ribs even as she raised her gun and led the way. It was a small building, only one story that would take them less than five minutes to search. If it was a trap, it wasn't a very sophisticated one, though it was very clear they could be walking into a potential disaster.

Juliet and Artemis walked softly over to the building and Juliet gestured for him to stay behind her, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. She hesitantly tapped the door, and both were very surprised when it wasn't locked and swung open without resistance. She cast a nervous look at Artemis before tossing the door open and stepping inside, her gun pointed at whoever was waiting for them-

Which was no one. The room was entirely empty. Juliet took another step inside and slowly lowered her weapon, turning around in a circle to see nothing but a deserted room. "There's no one here."

"I can see that for myself!" Artemis exclaimed, slamming the palm of his hand against the wall in anger. "Damn it! We're too late... god _damn_ it!"

"Wait." Juliet knelt down to examine the dirty floor and frowned. "This is blood."

"What?!" Artemis followed her lead and got down beside her, looking to see for himself the blood splattered across the floor. It was dark and hard to miss against the black floor, but once they knew what to look for, it was impossible not to see it. "Oh my god. Oh... oh my god. That is blood. Do you think... Artemis..."

Juliet looked up at him in alarm and was about to answer, but then something behind his head caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes and stood, moving past him to reach up and touch the camera. "Hey, look at this."

"It's a camera, so what? That doesn't help us."

"Yes, it does!" Juliet moved closer to it, jumping back when her boot landed on something that wasn't cold floor and sounded like plastic. "What the..." She got down to find that she had stepped on a laptop, one they hadn't noticed at first because it was so thin and matched the color of the floor. "Well, damn," she muttered, picking up and opening it. "Someone should show this to Apple. You think they could make a Mac with a screen thinner than this?"

"Give me that!" Artemis snatched it from her and sat on the floor, his hands hovering over the keyboard. "Let me... what the hell language is this? ...Arabic?"

"No. Does that look like Arabic to you?"

"Well, that's not the Roman alphabet. Arabic is my first-"

"It's Gnomish! You know... the language of the fairies?"

Artemis groaned and thrust the laptop back at her. "Do you read it? Can you tell me what the fairies have on that computer?"

Juliet shrugged and shook her head. "Nope. Artemis can read and speak it, and I know my brother can understand some of it, but Artemis never bothered to teach me."

"Well, that's just bloody _wonderful!_" Artemis yelled, slamming his hand against the floor. "Our only clue is in a foreign language that only my missing son and his _also_ missing bodyguard can read! How the bloody hell does this help anything?!"

"Come on, think. I'm sure we can figure out som... Myles! What if Myles can read Gnomish?!"

Artemis raised his head hopefully. "You think he could..."

"Well, I know that we don't have any other options!"

Artemis eagerly opened his phone and called Fowl Manor, hoping and praying this was the lead they were looking for. It only took a few seconds for Myles to answer. "Hello?"

"Myles? What are you-"

"I forwarded all calls to the manor to Artemis's lab while I was waiting- to save time. So, what happened? Did you find anything?"

"Well, there's no one here, but there is a laptop programmed entirely in Gnomish. Can you read it?"

"Well, yes, of course I can- but that doesn't help you very much, as I'm not there."

"Can't I just read the letters out loud to you?"

Myles groaned. "If you're so confident, then, try it."

"Okay... at the bottom of the screen, there's a... dragonfly... a mushroom... a crab..."

"I don't think so, Father. That would take longer than we have. Especially since you're reading left to right and Gnomish does not go left to right. Just take a picture of the screen and send it to Artemis's email. I'll translate from here and tell you what I find."

Artemis hesitated an was about to say that it didn't sound like a very good plan- but at least it _was_ a plan, which was better than he and Juliet had come up with. "Okay. Taking picture now... and, sending... check his email."

"Already on it. Okay, let's see here... there's an icon in the upper right hand corner I want you to click on. The tag on it says it's a video, but not of what, and there's not much else of interest on the screen."

Artemis nodded, bringing the touch pad mouse up to what he hoped was what Myles was referring to and clicking on it. It brought what looked like a webcam feed to the front, of a room rather similar to this... except this one had Butler sitting inside on the floor with his back to the camera.

"Dom!" Juliet cried, yanking the computer from him in excitement. "Dom! Oh my god!"

Butler whirled around, then gasped when he saw Juliet and Artemis looking at him through the camera. "Jules? Is that you?"

"Yes, yes it's me!"

"You're all right! But how in god's name did you find me? The fairies didn't get you too, did they?"

Juliet shook her head, even as she breathed a sigh of relief. "No, no, they didn't! Myles helped us find you. Dom, where are you?"

"I don't know- but what about Artemis? Is he with you?"

Artemis Sr grabbed the computer back from Juliet, worry taking over. "He's not with you?"

Butler sighed and shook his head. "No... he's not. No. The fairies still have him."

"That's not important. Now that we've found you, we can find Artemis."

"But how?!" Artemis Sr asked angrily, pushing the computer back over to her and throwing his head back against the wall. "This was our only lead! How the bloody hell are we supposed to find him now?"

"If I may break in," Myles said, still on the phone, "I can help. I can track the signal from the computer to tell you where Butler is. As for Artemis... he's underground. My search just found the same shuttle that I showed you at the car crash headed through a hologram not very far from your current location. I searched the coordinates on Artemis's computer and he has it listed as a port city leading underground."

Artemis relayed the information to Butler and Juliet, who both fell silent, uncertain and worried. It was Butler who finally spoke up with a grim smile. "Then I suppose we're headed underground."


	27. Chapter 27

Thank you all for reviewing! And hey, look at that- I finally changed the cover from a hideous tentacled monster to something pretty. The site cropped it and ruined it, but it still looks better than a monster. Credit goes to me, because I 'drew' it.

Artemis opened his eyes to magic.

Two glowing eyes were staring straight down at him, dark blue boring into his own. A blue haze seemed to surround him, and a voice heavy with magic called out softly yet firmly to him.

"Your will is mine, human."

Artemis nodded slowly, the heavy, powerful voice weighing down on him like a soft blanket, bells tinkling over the top of the dulcet tones, the soft speech impossible to resist. "Yes," he murmured, much to the pleasure of the figure above him.

"Who do you serve?"

Such a kind voice. How could he distrust it? "You."

"My name is Dale. Do you serve Dale?"

"Of course."

"Yes. Very good. Stand up." The fairy moved back and Artemis got to his feet robotically, staring straight at the mesmerizing eyes. Dale took a small step back and Artemis followed his lead, drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

"Very good. Listen to me, human. Take this weapon. You are going to kill who I order you to with it. Do you understand me?"

Artemis hesitated, even as Dale placed the gun in his hand. "Kill them? But... why? Did they do something?"

"Don't question me, human. Your will is mine, remember?"

"Yes. I understand. I will kill them."

Dale grinned, his eyes still gleaming with power. "Fantastic. Now, follow me." He turned and slowly began to lead Artemis to a door, still looking over his shoulder to meet Artemis's eyes, and Artemis followed slowly, never once looking away from Dale and those beautiful, trusting, comforting eyes. The pixie opened the door and led him inside, asking him once again, "Do you serve me?"

Artemis nodded numbly. "Yes."

"Good. Now, kill her." Dale stepped aside to reveal an elf restrained against the back wall, her hands handcuffed to a hook on the wall above her. She was staring at him in terror, her eyes wide in shock, her slim frame trembling in fear and disbelief.

It was Holly.

Artemis nodded and walked forward slowly, gazing straight at her. He turned the gun on Holly, his eyes blank, his body relaxed. He calmly let his finger rest on the trigger and centered it on her forehead.

"_Artemis!_"

Holly's frantic scream echoed off the walls and there was a flash of recognition in his eyes. Just a hint, but it was there- enough to give her hope. His expression tweaked for a fraction of a second.

"Artemis!" she cried, emboldened. "I know you're in there! Don't do this! _Artemis!_"

"Don't waste your breath, Holly," Dale laughed, his voice still vibrating with magic. "His will is mine."

"_No!_" she shouted, steadfastly refusing to believe it. "Artemis, listen to me! Artemis! It's me- Holly! Artemis!"

The human trembled, the gun still resting on her forehead. He frowned for a moment.

"Artemis, pull the trigger," Dale ordered. "Pull the trigger _now!"_ His voice shook with the weight of magic and power filtered into the last word, but Holly still refused to let herself give up. She looked straight into Artemis's eyes, struggling to get him to stop.

There was that frown again. He didn't pull the trigger; his eyes fluttered shut for a moment before he slowly, turned around and gasped, "No." He waved the gun aimlessly and shook his head slightly. "No."

The pixie's eyes widened. "What?" he asked incredulously. "Human, I order you! _Do it! Kill her!_" His eyes and voice were still filled with magic, and Artemis shook so violently that he could barely keep a hold of the gun.

"No. I refuse." His voice was slow and it was clear he struggled to fully articulate each word, and he stumbled forward, swaying like a drunk. "I… will… not."

The pixie was clearly furious. "No!" he screamed, pointing at Holly again. "I told you to kill her! Kill her, Mud Boy. Kill her, Artemis. _I command you!_"

But Artemis shook his head again, still shaking and barely able to stand. "I… said… _no!_" The pixie's body and voice throbbed with power and Artemis gasped, his legs giving out. He fell to his knees, his entire body wracked with tremors as he fought the pixie's order. "I said _no!_"

The pixie advanced on him, pointing at Holly, his eyes alight with power and anger. "You filthy Mud Boy, I said to kill her! You will kill her- _now!_ You will _not_ disobey me! _Do it!_"

Holly strained at her bonds, fighting to get to Artemis and stop this torture. The human shook his head again, starting to sweat, his breath coming in great, heaving gasps. "I will not," he reiterated, his voice stronger than before. "I. Will. Not."

"Kill her! Kill her now!"

Artemis shook his head, his movements becoming slow and groggy, his voice slurred. The fight was clearly taking a lot out of him, and Holly knew he wouldn't be able to hold out forever. She could hardly believe he had lasted this long. "Artemis!" she called. "Arty, don't listen to him! Don't do it!"

He coughed weakly and fell, catching himself with one hand, the other still grasping the gun. On his hands and knees, he looked up at the pixie, his eyes finally clear. "No," he gasped, clearly without the strength to say anything else.

And, furious, Dale swept forward and yanked him upright, locking eyes with him, his voice and gaze trembling with the sheer weight of magic. "_Do it! Pull the trigger! Kill her!_"

The power in the pixie's voice was undeniable; it was so strong that Holly almost fell to his whims herself. Her friend coughed and gasped, his breath beginning to come slower. Artemis shook so hard he could barely aim.

He raised the gun. He rested his hand on the trigger.

Holly stared up at him in complete horror. His blue eyes were clear, his face set, fully ready to do what he was about to do. There was no talking him out of this. He was about to shoot.

Artemis pulled the trigger.

The moment Artemis fired, he collapsed. A second later, so did the pixie.

Holly could hardly believe what had just happened. Artemis had not only resisted the _mesmer_- he had shot the pixie instead of her.

He had _killed_ the pixie instead of her.

Finally recovering from the shock, Holly began thrashing against her bonds, fighting to get to Artemis. He had not moved since he had shot the pixie, still lying exactly where he had collapsed. Holly couldn't see his face, but she could tell his was out cold. "Artemis!" she cried, fighting hard against the bonds. "_Artemis!_ Come on! Wake up!"

The Irish teen did not respond to her voice. He didn't even move. She called for him again, begging, pleading with him to move, but he remained motionless. The pixie was on the ground a few feet away from- dead. Holly pulled in vain at the handcuffs holding her to the wall, straining to break free and rush to Artemis.

"Come on!" she cried, exasperated and yanking her arms forward, trying to free herself. That was when her eyes alighted on the Neutrino, which had fallen out of Artemis's slack grip and was now lying, abandoned, on the floor.

_"These babies can do anything," Foaly told her, patting one of the guns affectionately. "They even have a voice activation chip. You say your badge number and confirm, and it'll shoot anything that moves."_

_Holly looked at him doubtfully. "That sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen."_

_"Only for the officer who activates the self-shooting mode. And it automatically turns itself off after one minute, just in case some knucklehead turns it on then gets himself shot and can't figure out how to turn it off. It also won't work if anyone's holding it; should be used in emergencies only, and if you're holding your gun, there's no reason for it to auto-shoot."_

_"Sounds like you just wanted another piece of worthless technology to brag about."_

_"You watch. It'll save your life someday, and then you'll thank me! You'll thank me, Holly!"_

Sure enough, Holly found herself thanking him. "Gods, Foaly, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you." Then she swallowed back her fears by focusing on Artemis's motionless form and nodded stoically. She had to do this- even though it was going to hurt a lot. "Captain Holly Short, badge number 3564298."

The gun jerked slightly on the floor. "Captain?" it asked in a cool, female voice. "What is it you wish from the great Foaly's invention?"

She rolled her eyes._ Never mind. I won't thank you, Foaly. You're already too arrogant._ "Activate auto-shoot mode."

"You have asked to activate auto-shoot mode. Is this what you want to do?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, exasperated, glancing back over at Artemis. He was still unconscious and she struggled to reach him again.

"I understand." The gun began to spin around and Holly, fighting to keep the rest of her absolutely still, jiggled the chain of the handcuffs with the slightest movement of her wrists. _Please, please, please,_ she thought. _Shoot the handcuffs. Shoot the handcuffs._

The gun froze on her, turning up at an angle to aim at her hand. It took aim and Holly moved the chain again before closing her eyes.

She heard the gun fire and it struck the metal ring fastened around her wrist. She felt it heat up almost instantly until it began to burn her skin, and she barely managed to stop herself from wincing. She had to hold absolutely still, or this plan wouldn't work. The gun steadily burned against the metal and it began to melt quickly, the molten drops falling onto her skin. Holly screamed, but the gun didn't stop, and she fought with everything she had in her to remain frozen.

Her eyes flashed open and they fixed on Artemis. It was the sight of his limp body that held her still. The metal melted slowly, heat spreading along the handcuff ring quickly, and, finally, it was good enough for her to rip it off herself. "Stop!" she shouted, fixing her eyes on her gun. "Stop!"

The gun stopped firing it's laser. "You asked me to stop firing, Captain? Is that what you want me to do?"

"Yes," she gasped, tears filling her eyes as she collapsed against the wall. "Yes. That's what I want."

"Yes ma'am." The gun dropped back to the floor and Holly finally chanced a look at her arm. It was covered in livid red marks from the molten metal, already beginning to burn.

"Gods." Holly winced, beginning to pant through her gritted teeth from the pain before she yanked her injured arm forward. The metal bent but didn't give way. Planting her foot back against the wall, Holly kicked herself forward as hard as she could, straining against the metal. It snapped and she collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath as several tears of agony rolled down her cheeks. The cold floor was a harsh relief to her mutilated arm, but before the brief painkiller had set in, she was already dragging herself forward to her friend.

"Artemis!" she gasped, turning him over to face her with her good arm. "Artemis!"

He was out cold, dark hair soaked with sweat, his skin freezing and white as snow. Holly nearly fainted as she grasped for his wrist to feel his pulse, finding a weak heartbeat underneath his flesh. "Oh, thank gods," she whispered before laying a hand on his shoulder again. "Arty, wake up. Come on, wake up! Please!"

His body spasmed slightly under her hand, but he gave no other side of regaining consciousness. With all of her magic having been drained from the multiple times she had healed herself today, Holly had no way of telling how badly he was injured or healing him, and he didn't seem like he was about to wake up anytime soon. And, as no one knew where they were, she had to get him out of here as fast as possible.

So Holly reached down and grabbed his hand, pulling his limp arm up around her neck and hoisting his dead weight up. He was still taller than her and his legs dragged behind him, but Holly still managed to pull him towards the door. He weighed more than her and the pain in her arm was quickly becoming unbearable.

"Gods," she gasped, gritting her teeth as agony shot up her burned flesh. "Hang on, Arty," she murmured to the unconscious teen. "Just hang on."

She pulled Artemis down the hallway, her friend still not showing any signs of regaining consciousness. The more she was able to get a better look at him, the worse he appeared. His left arm hung at an odd angle, and she was beginning to expect it was broken. She wouldn't have seen signs of it with the _mesmer_; under its influence, one felt no pain. Perhaps she was doing more harm than good right now by moving him, but she had to get out of here and get her arm treated, and there was no way in _hell_ she was leaving him behind.

The pain in her arm whiplashed to her shoulder and she stumbled, gripping Artemis's hand so tightly she could've sworn she heard a crack. "Gods!" she cried out, doubling over and fighting the pain with everything she had. She had to get Artemis out of here. If she could just get him outside, someone would recognize them and get help.

Finally, she stumbled outside, her breaths coming in great, painful gasps and her arm hurting so much death would have been sweet. "Someone, help!" she called hoarsely before letting out a low, agonized moan. "_Help!_ Someone, please!" Her arm felt like it was on fire; she couldn't hold out much longer. Her vision flashed red and white and she screamed, in too much pain to turn her desperation into words.

She heard someone yell and then there were pounding footsteps. From down the street, she saw two elves dashing towards them. They were safe.

Holly collapsed. The last thing she felt before passing out was Artemis's hand in hers.


	28. Chapter 28

Thank you all for reviewing! Next chapter will be the... *sniff*... final chapter. It will be the 'Ranowa explains just what the hell happened these past few chapters' chapter.

"D'Arviting Mud Boy! Is he D'Arviting crazy? Just what the D'Arvit did he do to her?! D'Arvit, D'Arvit, D'Arvit!"

Artemis couldn't groan, not vocally. He was still too weak. The angry voice intruded on his sleep, rousing him slightly as it continued in its rants.

"I mean, we got a dead body. A _dead D'Arviting body!_ How in Frond's name did _this_ happen?!"

_Gun aimed at Holly. His hand on the trigger. Gun on Holly. His hand on trigger._

And the voice spoke of a dead body… the voice said he did something…

_He killed Holly._

"No!" he gasped, sitting bolt upright, ignoring the sharp pain that immediately seized him, his eyes wide in shock. "No! Holly!"

Butler, who appeared to have been in the middle of a heated discussion with whoever was on the speaker phone on the communicator ring clasped in his palm, started, turning to look at him in surprise. He was silent for a moment before shaking his head and talking to whoever was listening from his phone. "I have to go. He's awake."

He pressed a button and ended the call, but remained quiet. The silence was agonizing, and Artemis, for once, didn't care if he appeared dignified or in control or responsible. This was about Holly's life. "God, Butler. Holly. Where is she? She's not… is she? I didn't want to do it. It wasn't my choice. He-"

"Artemis, what are you talking about?"

His voice wasn't urgent or distraught enough for someone whose friend was dead and he did realize that, but he was too emotional for it to register. "Holly. She's dead, isn't she? I sh… I sh… I shot her."

Butler appeared completely confused. "No, you didn't. Holly wasn't shot, Artemis. She's alive."

"Then where is she?!" He searched his surroundings for any sign of her, only to find that he was in a fairy hospital room- devoid of his friend. With his last memory consisting of him with a gun to Holly's head and what he'd heard of Butler's conversation, there was only one logical conclusion. "She's dead. Oh, god, she's dead. I killed her. I-"

"She's fine, Artemis. The only reason she's not here right now is because they used anesthesia on her when they were treating the burns. What are talking about?"

Artemis shook his head slowly, the panic still rising. He had no recollection of Holly being burned and remembered being under the influence of the _mesmer_; as much as it pained him to think, he must have killed her. When Butler promised again she was fine, Artemis shook his head, making to stand. "No! You're lying to me. You're telling me she's alive when she's not. I know I shot her, Butler. I don't believe you."

Butler pressed a hand down on his shoulder, keeping him in place. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about, but you're not going anywhere, Artemis. You've got a snapped clavicle that magic can't heal and movement will only aggravate. You're staying here."

"What?" Artemis looked down at himself and realized for the first time that his left arm was constrained close to his chest by a sling, his shoulder bruised purple and black- under normal circumstances, he'd be interested in why magic hadn't been able to heal it completely.

But these weren't normal circumstances.

"No, I have to see her." Artemis shook Butler's hand off and winced as pain flared up in his shoulder, still straining to see around his form, searching desperately for Holly. "I shot her. I shot her in the head. Oh, god, I shot her. I have to see her, Butler."

"You're not seeing her until she comes to see you, which'll probably happen as soon as she wakes up. And I don't know why you're going on about shooting her; Holly had severe burns on her right arm and a head injury, but she wasn't shot. Why do you think she was?"

Artemis shook his head again, trying to slow his frantic breathing. "You- you said there was a dead body. If not her, then who?"

"A pixie. He was killed by a shot to the head and was discovered in the warehouse you and Holly were found unconscious outside of. He'd only been dead for about an hour when LEP went inside- but the theory is that Holly shot him. You're saying it was you?"

"No, it wasn't me. I didn't shoot the pixie… I don't know what you're talking about. I was aiming the gun at Holly… he had me with the _mesmer_ and was telling me to shoot her. The last thing I remember is me holding the gun to her head." Artemis looked back at Butler to see his bodyguard staring at him in shock, and he tried to make amends. "I tried to resist. I remember that. I tried to resist the _mesmer_, but he was just… so convincing and his voice… it was almost enrapturing."

Butler smiled reassuringly. "Artemis, it's not your fault. You know as well as I do that you can't resist the _mesmer_... wait. If he told you to shoot Holly, why is she still alive and the pixie dead? What, is your aim really so bad you just missed?"

"No, that's impossible." Artemis shook his head, closing his eyes and struggling to remember. "I was about to ki… shoot her. And then-"

Before he could complete his thought, the door to the hospital room opened to reveal Holly. Her right sleeve was cut short to her shoulder, but her arm appeared completely unscathed; there was no sign of any burns or blemishes whatsoever. She looked absolutely fine- physically, that is. She was gazing down at the floor, seeming lost in thought. Her eyes were dark and uncertain, and her voice was shaking slightly when she finally looked up and said, "Hey."

Artemis could barely believe it. She wasn't dead. Holly wasn't dead. He hadn't shot her. The sight in front of him conflicted with everything he remembered, but he was everything but irrational, and the elf in front of him was clearly alive and well. No matter what his terrifying memories showed, now, all the evidence he had said that Holly was fine.

"Holly!" he exclaimed, reaching out to her with his one good arm. He found himself trying to to touch her, almost as if she was this insubstantial ghost that would vanish the moment he touched her. "Holly! You… you're alive!"

She nodded, and that was when he noticed how shaken she was. His friend was slightly pale, her previously injured arm spasmed occasionally, and there was something strange in her eyes. She nodded, the motion more a quick, uncertain jerk than anything else and she smiled at him and if he hadn't known better, Artemis would of said her look was one of undying gratitude.

"Of course I am... thanks to you. Thank you, Artemis." She moved forward and pushed a shellshocked Artemis lightly back against the bed, but the motion seemed forced.

"I don't understand. How are you not… the last thing I remember, the gun was to your head- the pixie had me under the _mesmer_- what happened?"

"I'd like to know that as well," Butler added on. "Artemis here wakes up and is rambling on about how he shot you and you're dead and won't listen to a word I say. We've got a dead body, but we all know that Artemis can't shoot to save his own life- literally."

Holly nodded, resting a hand on his uninjured shoulder. "Well, it seems he's been finally benefiting from your lessons. He's at least able to hit a stationary target less than a meter away now."

This seemed to be news to both Butler and Artemis. "What?!" the human exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock. "I- _I _shot him?"

"Yes, you did. Saved my life."

He shook his head again, trying to wrap his head around it. "I couldn't have. I don't remember- the last memory I have, I'm holding the gun to your head. I was _mesmerized_; how could I have shot him?"

Holly shrugged and grinned. "You resisted him. You barely managed it and passed out right after, but you still were able to pull it off."

Artemis lowered his head, his mind racing. "I thought no one could resist the _mesmer_. That is the true reason for its potency."

Holly grimaced and nodded sourly. "It's not a fact we fairies are particularly proud of; we don't advertise it. You aren't the first to have done so, for once, but you're still one of the only ones. Not the first human, even- that would be Butler."

"Of course!" Artemis nodded, remembering back to when his manservant had resisted Opal's _mesmer_ almost nine years previously. "How could I forget? And my chances would have been marginally better than his. I've been _mesmerized_ before, and I once had magic. It would be easier for me to resist than Butler. Even most other fairies; If I remember correctly, _mesmerizing_ another fairy is considered such an immoral act that it is almost never done?"

Holly nodded, prompting Artemis to smile. "That explains it. I've been _mesmerized_ before so I knew how it affected me, and I once held magic. That must have been why Butler had a heart attack when he resisted Opal and I didn't have one when I resisted Dale."

"Actually, no. Opal's power was far stronger than his. Her magic was actually greater than his physical and mental strength combined; refusing her truly was a suicide mission. Whether you are more suitable or not to resisting a _mesmer_ is less of an issue, for your two cases. You both had the ability to, Butler through his strength, you through your exposure to magic and… greater than average mental prowess, if you will. The only reason you didn't have a heart attack is because the pixie's magic was considerably less powerful than Opal."

Artemis nodded slightly, reflecting on all that had happened until he was suddenly struck by a thought. He looked worriedly to Holly, struggling to voice his uncertain question. "Holly, Dale… he's dead? I killed him?"

Holly's small smile faded, replaced by a sympathetic look. She appeared guarded, somehow, but nodded, a concern in her eyes as she watched him for his reaction. His expression didn't change outwardly, but there was a sudden darkness in his eyes now. Always pale, now he seemed suddenly ghostly white, preoccupied with the idea that he himself had taken another's life. Holly had been forced to kill several times for LEP before, every single time in life or death situations- that didn't mean it was easy.

"Artemis, you know that you didn't have a choice. If you hadn't killed him, you would've had to kill me."

He nodded slightly, barely even listening to her. He remained distracted for several moments before he shook it off and looked back up at them, seemingly focused once more, but the darkness in his eyes hadn't entirely vanished. "Foaly. The entire reason we were headed underground was him and his wife... is Caballine all right?"

Holly winced and looked away, shaking her head. "No... no, she's not. None of them are." Her voice cracked, but she forged on, regardless. "I... I might as well start from the beginning. After we were ambushed on the surface, I woke up underground, wearing a helmet and a pair of wings. Someone was patched into my communications network and told me that I had thirty minutes to get to Foaly and warn him before a bomb blast killed him and everyone inside that bank. It was all a scam, of course; I couldn't make it in thirty minutes. They just wanted me to get my hopes up that I could save him, then see my face when I realized I couldn't.

"Foaly was lucky. He survived, but is still in intensive care. He got pretty badly hurt, but he'll live... the rescue teams haven't managed to find Caballine yet. And there were a number of casualties, including... Trouble."

Artemis's eyes widened and Butler gasped, while Holly nodded slightly and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I know. I know... the officers I've spoken to are all shocked. Second commander in less than five years to be murdered. We all thought what happened to Julius couldn't happen again..."

Artemis hesitantly shrugged again. "Holly, the commander knew the risks of his job. And whoever planned this knew that you wouldn't be able to reach him in time. You can't-"

"Yeah, I _know_, Artemis, thanks," Holly snapped, standing and beginning to pace around the room. Artemis lowered his gaze, struggling to come to terms with the commander's death while Holly regained her composure.

Finally, trying to give Holly a few moments to herself, Artemis turned to Butler and spoke up. "Well? What's your side of the story? How did you get down here?"

Butler grimaced. "Your father and Juliet found me after enlisting Myles's help. Myles also tracked you and told us you were underground; we went to Tara and followed after you because we thought you were still missing. I only found out you were here when news of Holly being discovered unconscious and being transported to this hospital were broadcasted on the news. I figured you would turn up wherever she did."

Artemis frowned and shook his head slowly, looking between Holly and his bodyguard. "This all seems a little too convenient, for my tastes."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone goes after Foaly, Caballine, and the commander, while, at the same time, someone _else_ goes after you, Holly, and me? It can't just be a coincidence. Everything was executed too cleanly."

Holly shook her head and turned back around to face them. "Someone from LEP is involved. General Gage was there when I couldn't get to Foaly and the others in time. He's working with whoever set this all up."

"Really? The General was down here too? How interesting..."

"What do you mean, down here _too?_"

Artemis gestured vaguely up at the ceiling and said, "He was the elf who assaulted me on the surface. I recognized him as a Council member's son."

"The elf who assaulted you?"

"Yes. They filmed it for Butler; the intent was purely to make him suffer. Gage even told me beforehand." Artemis's eyes darkened, and he shook his head angrily. "Whoever is behind this clearly hates all four of us."

"All four? Am I missing someone?"

"Butler, you, myself, and Foaly, Holly. He was forced to watch his wife suffer. Those explosives could have been set off in a hundred more convenient ways; they specifically wanted to make him suffer." Artemis frowned, deep in thought, and titled his head to the side. "Actually, the more that I think about it... yes. That makes perfect sense. Make Foaly suffer by hurting Caballine, make Butler suffer by hurting me, make Holly suffer by hurting Foaly, and make me suffer by hurting you. Whoever this is is hurting us by hurting our loved ones."

Holly shook her head, her eyes darkening, clenching her hands into fists. "Sadistic son of a bitch. He doesn't know who he's messing with. When I get my hands around his scrawny throat..." she trailed off, and Artemis was positive he heard her growl.

"Slow down," Butler said. "Before you get to killing anyone- who the hell is behind this? I know we've angered more than one fairy over the years... but someone this psychotic? My first guess would be Opal... and this does have all earmarks of a Koboi plan-"

"Don't even say her name," Holly warned with a shudder. "She's dead. And, as we all know, nobody except Artemis Fowl can come back to life. Unless you think someone kidnapped No1 or Qwan and went back in time further than nine years and Opal came back with them and has stayed under the radar this entire time until now, don't even say her name."

He shrugged. "I'm just saying."

Artemis interceded before Holly could do more than glare at him. "I think we can all agree that the odds of Opal being responsible for this are infinitely improbable. That aside, the four of us _have_ caused quite a lot of strife among criminals in past years. I don't believe many of them would have any issue harming me in any way, shape, or form, but we may narrow down the list considerably because of their actions against Holly. Murder is less common in your society, is it not?"

"Of course. We are less barbaric than you humans who kill for nothing more than a candy bar." At Artemis's exasperated sigh, Holly reluctantly added, "And by, 'you humans' of course, I do not speak of you as a whole, I simply refer to the high numbers of your species that seem to believe violence is _always_ the answer. So, we're ignoring nonviolent offenders? And, seeing as how the plan has progressed so far, non-psychotics?"

Artemis paused, then shook his head. "Perhaps not. I admit, this is seeming more and more to be the work of a narcissistic psychopath with a God Complex, but there may be more fairies willing to murder than we perhaps thought. The ancient Greeks and Romans feared the reaction of the gods to direct murder, and, thus, no ruler ever outright killed someone. Instead, they would put their victim in an impossible situation or send them out to accomplish a dangerous task, always saying that 'their life was in the hands of the gods', effectively absolving themselves of all responsibility. Of course, in the more famous stories, the kings are always overthrown by the valiant hero but, more often than not, it went just as the kings planned."

"You got a point, or do you just like rambling off amateur psychology about events that happened over two thousand years ago?"

"Yes, I have a point. Murder was much more common back then simply because responsibility of the crime was easily able to be afflicted on another. They attempted to kill Holly through me. If everything had gone to plan, they could have eased their own conscience by saying that I could have resisted; it was my fault, not theirs."

Holly grimaced. "So, basically, we're looking for any fair under the earth with a reason to hate us?"

"Quite an intimidating list, is it not?"

She nodded. "I'll say."

It was silent for a moment, all three contemplating the momentous task before them of finding whoever wanted them all dead, then Artemis just sighed. "We're going to get nowhere with this. We need more information. And we're not going to get it from here." He stood and adjusted the sling's uncomfortable strap, permanently pushing all thoughts and uncertainties associated with Dale out of his mind. He would deal with those when this was over and done with.

"So, where to?" Holly asked, grinning at him, relieved that some of his personality seemed to be returning to him, even if there was still a darkness in his eyes.

"First, wherever the bloody hell they stashed my suit in this hospital. Second, to wherever we were when I was mesmerized to try and shoot you, Holly. You have the address?"

"I do. LEP's still there, processing the crime scene. In fact-"

Holly was cut off by her phone beginning to vibrate. Grimacing, she checked the number before answering the call with a short, "Yes?" She listened to whoever was on the line for several moments before grinning and nodding. "Absolutely. We're on our way. Thanks for calling."

She hung up, then nodded at Artemis and Butler. "Arty, I have a lead that's better than your one. Before I came here, I spoke with an officer about General Gage's involvement, and he was just found. Come on."

* * *

"I swear, something about this is very familiar..." Holly muttered under her breath, leaning up against the side of the camouflaged van and looking around in suspiciously. Artemis, standing several feet away, continued watching the building and didn't reply, listening intently to the com link in his ear that was patched into the LEP team's helmets. Holly shook her head and slowly walked up beside him, resting a hand on his injured shoulder and allowing a few sparks of magic to slip from her into him. His lip twitched at the temporary easing of the pain, but he acknowledged her presence in no other way.

"You okay?"

"Even if I was not," he snapped, "are my personal feelings truly relevant at this moment? I would have thought that you, of all people, would have been more interested in the ongoing operation than _how I feel_."

Holly grimaced. "A simple yes or no would have sufficed."

Artemis made no reply and stared blankly at the building, focusing on the conversation going on in his ear rather than her. Holly sighed and resisted the urge to try and talk to him about Dale's death and convince him that it wasn't his fault. That could be done later, once whoever was behind all of this was caught.

So, for the time being, she, too, allowed herself to be drawn in to the operation they were listening to. She glanced around the street again and frowned deeply. There was something extremely familiar about it, but she couldn't quite pinpoint yet.

Narrowing her eyes, Holly examined the building closer. "Oh my gods!" she murmured aloud. "That's it! I know where I know this place from?"

"Where?" Artemis asked, his voice flat, not once turning to look at her.

Holly was far too excited to be turned off by his clear lack of excitement. "About a month ago, General Gage went missing, and I was tasked with looking for him. Foaly tracked him to this location before a virus shut down his system. Gage ended up not being missing at all... but I'm starting to think this is all more connected than we thought."

"We've already established that nothing that has transpired is a _coincidence_, Holly."

Holly glared at him and stopped just short of asking him just what exactly his problem was. She already knew why he was being so short with her and couldn't help but sympathize. Even if Dale's death wasn't his fault, she knew that wasn't how Artemis saw things. She remembered well the first time she had been forced to kill someone. Line of duty or not, it wasn't easy.

"Look... Artemis-" Holly was interrupted by the captain leading the team into the building finally beginning the assault. She fell silent and listened as they broke into the warehouse, ordering the fairies inside to freeze.

There was a short pause from all the shouting, then the captain said, "Gods. They're not resisting. They... they're not resisting... what a D'Arviting let down... well, Captain Short, I suppose you and your human friend can come in. It's perfectly safe. The General's here, along with two others. And... oh, gods. Oh my gods."

"What? What's going on?" Holly asked, switching on her mike so they could hear her. "Captain? What happened?"

"Oh my gods. It can't be true... it just can't be..."

Holly exchanged a worried glance with Artemis before pulling her gun out of its holster and hurrying forward. "Stay back!" she yelled to him, even as his footsteps hurried after her. Rolling her eyes, Holly ran faster, the Captain's stunned speech continuing in her ear. She ran through the deserted hallway she had dragged an unconscious Artemis down not too long ago and came to a halt outside the last door and pushed Artemis back before he could run past her. "Stay. Here," she ordered, meeting his eyes. "I mean it, Artemis."

He glared at her. "We're both going in there, Holly. Go first, waving your weapon if you must, but I'm coming too."

"Good gods, why the hell do I put up with you..." Holly muttered under her breath, even as she turned and ran into the room, her gun raised, prepared to fire-

She was met by what looked like an entirely normal raid. Two elves and a pixie were sitting in the middle of the room, handcuffed, with the LEP team gathered around them. There was no violence, no blood, no hostages- entirely normal and safe.

What was odd was the expressions of everybody involved. The three under arrest looked entirely calm and complacent, staring blankly at the wall with dead eyes, muscles relaxed without even a hint of hostility. The LEP team, on the other hand, looked absolutely shocked; a few even appeared terrified.

Holly glanced back uncertainly at Artemis before walking forward to the Captain, who was staring down at the fairies in horror. "Captain? What's going on?"

He stammered for a few seconds before pointing down at the fairies with a shaking hand and gasping, "Opal. He... he said they work for Opal."

"_What?!_"

General Gage nodded shortly, still without even sparing them a glance. "Yes. We work for the great Opal Koboi."

The words hit them like a truck. Artemis swore under his breath while Holly stumbled back, light headed and gasping for air. _No. Not again. She's dead. No, not her. She's dead._

Artemis frowned and got down on his knees so he was at eye level with Gage and waved a hand in front of his eyes. "Wait, everyone," he called, narrowing his eyes and shaking the elf lightly by the shoulder. "Before we all panic... this fairy's been mesmerized."

"What?" Holly followed his lead and examined Gage closer; sure enough, the bloodshot eyes, the monotone voice, how he was barely reacting to the situation- Artemis was right.

"And not just him. Look at the others. All three of them have been mesmerized."

"Oh my gods," Holly muttered, standing and shaking her head. "You're right. They've all been mesmerized."

The captain breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the gods. They've just been mesmerized to say they work for her. Someone, call a warlock to reverse this. Let's find out who's really behind this."


	29. Chapter 29

Before I get emotional... this is the final chapter. But, because I love you guys, I'm posting a present, just for you, in three days. Keep an eye out for it the archives or subscribe to me to get an alert when it's up. _  
_

Now, I think I'm allowed a longer author's note for this chapter than the rest, don't you? I just want to say, right here and now, that you guys are the best reviewers I've ever had. More than one person suggesting this should be nominated for the ORION AWARDS- you guys made me cry, you know that? I would read these reviews on my phone at school, and then someone would ask me if I was okay, because I was crying. At one point, I honestly couldn't think of how to thank you guys, and I just started fumbling for words and said- thank you, gracias, merci, arigato gozimasu, habeas meam gratuitas, xie xie, danke dunke, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Thank you in all the languages I know it in. That about sums it up, I think. All 298 people who reviewed it, all 73 people who favorited it, all 98 people who followed it- I love you all and would give you guys a heart if fanfiction coding allowed me to. Take this chapter and my present instead? God... would you believe that, when I first started this story a few days after finishing The Last Guardian, I was intending for it to be a oneshot? That I started it as a warped version of chapter 13, then just pressed enter and started typing the first chapter 17,000 words later, and that those first 17,000 words aren't even part of the posted version? That I was intending to just post it as a oneshot, then go back to my regular fandoms? Well, Artemis Fowl is very fun to write for, and you guys are so much nicer than the other communities I'm used to. I'm staying here, you guys, and I'll be back with another project soon. But this final chapter is for you guys. Dedicated to each and every one of my reviewers and readers. I hope you enjoy it, your present in three days, and my upcoming project, which I've already started working. Enjooooooooooy! *hugs and kisses you all through the internet*

_Two weeks later..._

"Foaly, relax. It's really not that interesting of a story."

Foaly, visibly angered, shifted in his hospital bed and glared at them all. "Oh, I think that it is. The little tidbits you've given me are not enough; in fact, they only made me eager to learn more. How can Opal have been behind the whole thing if she's dead? You have to tell me!"

Holly grinned at Artemis, who smiled back, if a little reluctantly. "Oh, I don't know, Foaly," Artemis said, joining in on Holly's scheme. "The doctor _did_ say not to upset you. Perhaps we should just _leave_ and let you rest-"

"Oh, no you don't. This is the first time I've felt well enough in three days to do more than just blink at you, and I'm not going to waste it. _Tell_ me! And, besides, after learning that Caballine is alive and in the physical therapy room just down the hallway, nothing _you_ people say could upset me."

"Well... all right," Holly said with a pseudo-reluctance and grinned again. "You do deserve to know, after all. Artemis, why don't you start?"

Artemis adjusted his sling in a decidedly business-like manner and leaned back in his chair. This would take a while. "Well, I was on the surface with Holly when the commander called her and informed her of the situation with your wife. Butler was in the city, and so Juliet came with us. I offered to drive her, which is why we were in a car instead of watching her fly away. We were ambushed before we reached Tara- a team of fairies forced Juliet to crash the car. I was unconscious and had no idea, but learned later that they had been instructed to heal my life-threatening injuries only, and let Holly heal herself and Juliet die.

"They used Juliet as bait, though their consciences were strong enough to oblige them to heal her life-threatening injuries as well. Butler came, as they planned, looking for us. They ambushed him as well, and from what I understand he actually almost took out on one of them, even though he'd been drugged. Then they transported the both of us to Cork, though General Gage had his fun by telling us we were miles from both civilization and each other."

"_What?!_ General Gage? Are you serious?!"

Artemis smirked and nodded. "Yes, I am, Foaly. You have no idea how surprised I was to recognize the prestigious general as my captor. But wait, it gets more interesting. So, I regained consciousness to the general, who informed me that 'Butler had angered a certain mistress and I was going to pay the price for it'. He told me that they were going to let Butler watch a live feed of him attacking me. Seems Opal didn't have time to come up with an excuse for the assault that at least made sense."

"Hey!" Foaly cried. "There you go again! Don't keep mentioning her and then just change the subject! That's not fair!"

Artemis chuckled. "Thank you for convincing me to come along with you today, Holly, this is truly enjoyable. Anyway, I still had a broken collarbone from the car crash- they only healed my life-threatening injuries, remember?- so I'll spare you the grisly details of the beating and simply say it was... painful. I lost track of time, but, eventually, an elf we learned later to be named Eric Jones, medical warlock, made his entrance and healed me again, ordering the general to stop. According to Butler, the general told Butler they were just going to leave him to die and that nobody would find him. After we spoke with them later, however, we learned that Opal's orders were actually to kill him- they couldn't bring themselves to do it."

"And now is where my portion of the story begins. I-"

"Hey! Stop that! Tell me about Opal! She's dead, but you keep talking about her like-"

"Shush, you. We'll get to her when we get to her," Holly said with a grin. "So, when I regained consciousness, I was underground and wearing a helmet that she designed, along with a pair of Koboi doubledex wings." She smirked at the look on Foaly's face and continued. "I was given your location and told about the bomb, as well as handed a thirty minute time limit to reach you and warn you. Of course, it was all a set-up; there was no possibility of my reaching you in time. I got there just in time for the explosion. There were a few casualties... the only one you knew was... the commander."

Foaly gave a slight gasp while Holly swallowed and looked away, Trouble's death still a raw and painful topic. Artemis took over again, allowing Holly to swallow her grief silently.

"She was ambushed too and knocked unconscious. At this point, we were both transported to a warehouse underground. She was restrained against a wall while I was mesmerized from the moment I woke up. He ordered me to kill Holly with a Neutrino that we found out later to have been taken from the general, and then altered so it could kill. It took a bit of effort, but I managed to resist him and..." This time, it was Artemis's turn to fall silent, struggling to speak the same words that had been haunting him these past two weeks.

Holly returned the favor and spoke for him. "Killed him. Artemis passed out right afterwards. I managed to get us both outside and found help- or, rather, help found us. I told an officer about Gage's involvement and they started tracking him. They eventually found him at a warehouse owned by _Booki Palo_- the same place, in fact, where we found Gage over a month ago when he went 'missing'. Remember that? As it turns out, _that _entire affair was just a meeting so the fairies involved could simply begin planning for when they would carry out Opal's plan for revenge. Maybe this'll make you feel better about getting a virus from trying to hack into their system... rearrange the letters in Booki Palo and you get Opal's idea of a joke."

Foaly frowned. "Excuse me? What kind of a... oh my gods. Booki Palo- Opal Koboi. Booki Palo- Opal Koboi. Oh my gods! Ha, I knew it. Nobody in their right minds would name their kid '_Booki_'."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Yes. Well, anyways, LEP stormed the warehouse to find three out of five fairies involved. The other two, Jonathan Court- who took Caballine hostage- and Dale, who tried to force Artemis to kill me- were both dead. It didn't take long for us to realize they had all been mesmerized. Now... does that sound at all familiar with how present Opal arranged her escape from prison?"

Foaly watched them in confusion for several moments before finally sighing and shaking his head, closing his eyes in exhaustion. "Oh, gods. That's... but a plan of this complexity... are you sure?"

"Oh, yes, we're sure. Past Opal had been planning this long before her death. If present Opal hadn't intervened and murdered her, we would probably all be dead right now; she would have time to resolve the holes in her plan that we all took advantage of. Past Opal mesmerized all five of these fairies to carry out this plan just like Present Opal mesmerized those two pixies long before her plan was actually put into action. It's ridiculous; we still have warlocks working with them. Due to the fact that this information would probably cause widespread panic, this is all classified... particularly the bits about Opal. The only people who know besides the officers involved are the Council and the families of Jonathan and Officer Dale."

"Officer?"

"Yeah." Holly nodded in answer to Foaly's question and glanced uncertainly at Artemis, who was deliberately avoiding looking at either on of them and was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "He was a rookie LEP officer... had a wife and two kids. Opal picked him because she hacked into academy records and saw he was so skillful with magic he could've been a warlock. She knew it was possible Artemis could resist the _mesmer_, just didn't realize how big of a threat that was. Otherwise, she probably would have gotten a warlock to do the job."

Artemis shifted uncomfortably again and bit his lip, swallowing the lump in his throat. He had already known about the fact that Dale had a family- known for a while, actually. That didn't make it any easier to listen to Holly describe him; describe the man that he had killed.

He had had a family. A wife and two kids that he had watched take the news of Dale's death. And no matter how many times Holly told him it wasn't his fault, nothing could take away the sight of the look in the tiny seven year old's eyes when he was told his father wasn't coming home. When his wife was told the circumstances of his death, Artemis hadn't missed the burning hatred in her eyes, even as she grudgingly spoke with him afterwards.

He had killed someone. An _innocent_, nonetheless. Artemis was no stranger with death; people had died in the execution of his plans before, after all. He himself was the cause of present Opal's death. But he had never actually killed someone before. And, whenever someone died in the midst of one of his plans, it was because his plan went _wrong_. It had never been his intention for anyone to die.

And that wasn't the only thing troubling him about Dale's death. He _knew_ what it was like to be dead; he had been dead for six months and would by lying if he said the agonizing torture from Limbo still didn't return occasionally as a nightmare. And Artemis found himself wondering if Dale was now floating in Limbo as well, torn between the afterlife and the physical world. He understood, logically, how unlikely that was- Dale's spirit hadn't been ripped from his body, so there was no reason why it would be left behind. But it was still a possibility, and, no matter how minute, it still haunted him day and night. Was _he_ really responsible for putting someone through what he himself had suffered in Limbo?

"What do you think, Artemis?"

He started, Holly's question pulling him out of his miserable ruminations. He looked between her and Foaly, who were both watching him expectantly. "I'm sorry?"

"I just asked you if think Foaly here will ever be able to get over the fact that Opal was still able to hack him, even from beyond the grave."

"Oh. Oh, um, no. I think it will be something we can use to bother him with for many years to come. Look forward to it, Foaly. I'd also like to point out how she never successfully hacked _me_, only you."

Foaly groaned. "Give it a rest, will you? I hack your manor's security systems all the time. It's actually my favorite pastime."

"I'll let you in on a secret, Foaly- I only _let_ you into my system to make you feel accomplished. You really don't hack me."

"Oh, really?" Foaly chuckled, unconvinced. "Is that what you think? Well, I'll be sure to leave you a virus as a present the next time you 'let' me into your system again. Then we'll see who's laughing."

"I will be, when your plan backfires and I actually plant a virus in your own system before you even get near me."

"Oh, we'll just see about that."

Artemis smirked while Holly and Foaly laughed before leaving him in peace, talking about Caballine's recovery. He thought back on the past month and sighed, shaking his head. It was a lot to contemplate. Coming back to life, regaining his memories, and now, this. While disasters like this past one seemed to be rather commonplace for him and his friends... this was different.

Nothing was gained from all the destruction. Absolutely _nothing_ came out of this. People had died, and, for what? Opal's revenge? Opal was dead and had been so for seven months. She was long buried and, even if her plot for revenge had somehow succeeded and Artemis, Holly, Foaly, and Butler had all died, so what? Nothing else would have happened. She wasn't waiting in the shadows to step in the aftermath and take over. She was _dead_.

Artemis was reminded of his discussion with Holly after the debacle concerning Turnball Root and his human wife had come to a conclusion. He had told her that no good had come out of it. Innocents had died, and what of it? They had stopped no sinister plots to bring fairy and human kind together in an inter-species war or for a fairy to take the position of supreme overlord of the underground.

So what had they accomplished?

He was alive. Holly was alive. Butler was alive. Foaly and Caballine were both alive, if not alive and well.

Trouble was dead, something Holly would no doubt blame herself for in the future. Even when they had learned that Opal had instructed her fairies to wait for Holly to get close enough to see Foaly before setting off the explosive, she still had often said that she should have been able to do something to stop this from happening.

Dale was dead... something Artemis knew _he_ would continue to blame himself for in the future. Holly told him consistently that it was self-defense and that he hadn't had a choice- but all he could think about was Dale's family. Was that comforting news to them? That their father and husband had been killed due to _self-defense?_ And what about Dale himself? Was he trapped in Limbo now, just like Artemis himself had been just a little over a month ago?

Artemis shuddered slightly before shaking his head. He had to focus on the positives. Yes, there was still much to be dealt with.

But they were all alive. And that was what was important.

"_Hey!_ Artemis!"

Artemis blinked and looked up at Holly, who was laughing at him with Foaly. "You alive over there? That's the third time we called your name!"

Artemis smiled at her and nodded. "Yes, Holly. I'm alive."

He just had to focus on that.


End file.
